two more (note again, when a parent has died; note also, marital status of the surviving parent at time child was born may be considered). I don’t have an answer yet for the question, - Under the Uniform Child Protection Act, custody orders between states must be honored - I’m wondering if that might apply also, under the International Act, to Bahama decisions translating to the States?:
KENTUCKY: A court may award visitation rights if visitation would be in the child’s best interest. A court may award a grandparent the same visitation rights as a parent without custody if the grandparent’s child is deceased and the grandparent has provided CHILD SUPPORT to the grandchild.
http://www.parentsrights.org/media/ky_pr.html
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State statutes providing visitation to grandparents generally require that a number of conditions occur before visitation rights can be granted. The marital status of the parents must be considered in a majority of states before a court will evaluate the relevant factors to determine if visitation is appropriate. In some of these states, the parents’ marital status is considered only if the grandparent or grandparents have been denied visitation by the parents
A minority of states require that at least one parent is deceased before a court can award visitation to the parent of the deceased parent of the child. For example, a maternal grandparent in one of these states may be awarded visitation only if the mother of the child is deceased.
Once the statutory conditions for visitation are met, grandparents must establish the factors that courts may or must consider to grant visitation rights. In every state, grandparents must prove that granting visitation to the grandchild is in the best interest of the child. Several states also require that the court consider the prior relationship between the grandparent and the grandchild, the effect grandparental visitation will have on the relationship between the parent and child, and/or a showing of harm to the grandchild if visitation is not allowed.
If a child’s parents and/or grandparents live in different states, one of several laws will determine the appropriate court to hear a custody or visitation case. If a valid custody or visitation DECREE has been entered in one state, the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act requires that another state must enforce and must not modify the decree. Another state may modify the decree only if the original state no longer has jurisdiction over the case or has declined jurisdiction to modify the custody or visitation decree. Congress amended this statute in 1998 to include a grandparent in the definition of “contestant.”
If no state has made a valid custody determination, the provisions of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, as adopted by each state, will apply. A court in a particular state has power to hear a custody case if that state is the child’s “home state” or has been the home state of the child within six months of the date the legal action was brought and at least one parent continues to reside in the state. Other situations include those in which a state with jurisdiction over a custody case declines jurisdiction or no other state may assert jurisdiction over the child.
CALIFORNIA: Conditions for grandparent visitation rights include a determination of whether a parent is deceased, the child’s parents are divorced or separated, the whereabouts of one parent is unknown, or the child is not residing with either parent. In addition to determining that visitation is in the child’s best interests, the court must find that the grandparents had a preexisting relationship with the grandchild
http://law.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/grandparents-rights
Excellent articles. It does sound like from the Uniform Child Protection Act that whatever the Bahamian decision is construed to be might be applicable.
Or at least that court has provided some arguable proof of a relationship. Although the article said a 2001 appellate court had struck down the California 1998 law re grandparents rights as unconstitutional.
Once again, it’s surprising no main stream TV station has offered up time to a legal expert,talking head to opine about this stuff...
Thanks for all that info re: grandparents visitation rights. I thought we had been told that these rights had just about vanished in the States - but not in the Bahamas....?