Do Grandparents Have Visitation Rights?

In a perfect world, there would be no objections to children spending a weekend or even just an afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa. But in the real world, custodial parents might not always agree that such a visitation is in the best interests of their kids.

But while grandparents denied the joy of seeing their grandchildren may see it as their right, the truth is that Illinois law treats grandparent visitation as a "privilege" according to information provided by Illinois Legal Aid.

Grandparents who for some reason are unable to visit their grandchildren may want to call an Illinois family lawyer to learn more about their options.

While custodial parents or legal guardians have the right to deny grandparent visitation, grandparents have the right to ask the court for access. Illinois Legal Aid states that grandparents seeking visitation must be able to show that denying such visitation "will harm the child mentally or physically" and that the parents' denial of visitation is unreasonable.

In other words, the burden of proof is on the grandparents for proving that the denial of visitation actually harms the child. The law is the same for great-grandparents and siblings who seek visitation, according to Illinois Legal Aid.

Grandparents seeking visitation must file a petition with the court and, if an agreement cannot be directly reached with the parent, the grandparents must present witnesses and evidence showing that non-visitation is harmful to the child, Illinois Legal Aid states. But obtaining visitation through legal means may be difficult: