Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone could share some advice or anything really, a bit of a long story but my brother and his partner broke up a while ago they have a son and she was pregnant with no 2. She put him through hell with visitation, threats to him, even broke into his house and stole his ipad then went and changed all his passwords etc, and used the find my phone link thing to stalk his whereabouts occasionally, this is all after he went through and paid for mediation and had court orders for visitation done up and they have since followed but there relationship you can say is up and down, but none the less he pays her car finance and pays childsupport everyweek and has his first son there set days. Now baby no 2 has arrived and she won't let our family met him like grand parents, aunties etc, my brother is so hurt by this as he just wants us to see him and while we've told him we understand, (which really we are hurt but we don't want him to have to cause anymore drama with her) she purely doesn't like us anymore since there relationship came to an end. She said we could met him a few days ago where she would drop him at my brothers house so we can just pop in quickly for 10 mins but she changed her mind a few hours prior, she's since then made comments to him that now we don't want to see him etc, she's just doing it I feel to get a rise out of my brother to find ways to talk to him and so on and use this baby against him as she knows eventually when his older and my brother has him for visits it will be out of her control, but i guess my question is do my parents (grandparents) have any rights to met this little guy now? Is there anything my brother can do? Does anyone know what/if there are visitation rights for a newborn? He thinks theres nothing he can do until 6 to 12months? Sorry for the long post!
Fathers & Grandparents Rights?
Fathers & Grandparents Rights?
Posted in:
Life Lessons, Relationships & Marriage, Men's Business, Being a Dad
2 Replies
Start documenting absolutely everything with as much proof as possible (such as texts).
Everytime you, your brother or your parents ask to see the children, everytime she says no, everytime she cancels at the last minute, breaches currrent orders, etc, make a note with the time and date it happened.
It may end up being useful in court to show that you are all trying to have a relationship with the children and she's making it difficult.
Make sure all contact is done by text or email so you have proof if any conversation goes sour or if she rejects any contact.
(But make sure you're being reasonable with any requests and don't keep harassing her with messages, of course)
Access with a newborn tends to be short and frequent, such as two hours two or three times a week, but it is granted. It's important for a parent to have a relationship with their child as early as possible, so there's no 'age limit' on when proceedings can start.
Factors such as work, how far apart parents live, and if mum breastfeeds or not can affect if you get more or less time.
Grandparents legally have 'rights' when it comes to their grandchildren, but it depends on the situation.
Family law looks at the best interest of the child and if the relationship will be beneficial for the child.
If there are court proceedings undergoing between parents, they tend to add grandparents to the case and the same judge oversees it all and speaks to both parents and grandparents, finding out why there's an objection to contact, and arrange any visitation. This is so there's no conflicting orders made.
You'll probably have to show why you can't have a relationship with the children when they're in their fathers care, though.
Grandparents access tends to be day visits, and usually occurs once a month (again, depending on circumstances, including how often the other parent sees the child).
Mediation will be the first step in the case as well.
And with any legal case, it is always best to talk to a lawyer. Many do free consultations and can give you more accurate advice than I or anyone else here can.
Good luck!
Hi thanks for the reply, definitely a helpful response, I just thought Id put the question out there before he goes any further just for a little insight as everyone's a bit lost & down and not thinking clearly.
Your right its definitely time to start documenting everything and I'll advise him he really needs to go back to a lawyer. We can see the kids when he has them (well oldest child as he has days with him) but as for the newborn at the moment she is only letting him see him for short intervals. Thanks again for a very helpful response :)