(0:00 – 0:22)
Hi everyone and welcome to another Family Law Matters. I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel who is the owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Hi, Bonnie.

Hi, Michael. How are you doing today? I’m doing great. Bonnie, before we go further, I understand we’ve got some good news that you want to share about your location.

(0:22 – 4:57)
Yes, we have moved offices. We are in a pretty much brand spanking new building. It is also in Mission Valley.

We are located now at 3511 Camino Del Rio South, so across the street and a little bit more east. And we are in Suite 401. We are excited.

It’s a lot more family-oriented space and we’re very happy to be in it. Congratulations. I’m sure it’s going to be a beautiful space and I’m sure many of your clients are going to feel very warmly welcome and that’s wonderful.

Thanks, Michael. Today, I want to talk about grandparents and how grandparents fit into the issue of custody, if they even do. What do you think? Well, grandparents are great, extraneous family members.

They’re wonderful babysitters. They’re wonderful to help with the children. The only real way that they can get any custody rights is if both parents are either deceased or if they are in some sort of rehabilitation facility, or there are issues with mental fitness and the grandparents have to step in as guardian ad litems.

But just to get custody when there is a fit parent, what that means in California is any parent unless proven otherwise. So we’re all determined to be fit. We’re all presumed to be fit parents.

So if one parent does not want grandparents involved, it’s very hard for grandparents to get separate and distinct custodial rights. Now, you said one parent may not want the grandparents to be involved. What about visitation? Can a grandparent be prevented from seeing a grandchild? Yeah.

So let’s say your child decides that they don’t want you anymore in their children’s lives. They have the right to make that decision. It’s actually a constitutional right to raise your children.

So while that may be heartbreaking, if a parent decides no, it’s usually no. A grandparent would have to show that it would be detrimental to the child. There is such a strong bond.

And that’s a lot more than weekend dinners or weekends at grandparents. It’s like the grandparent has been a pseudo parent, living with, taking care of, doing all of that, almost to the exclusion of a parent before that could make a difference. And just very quickly, can a parent, can one parent say, I don’t want my spouse’s parents to be involved with my children? Yes.

Well, yes. And if the other parent agrees, are you talking about two parents that are still in a intact relationship or are they separated? Divorcing. If they’re divorcing and one parent says, I don’t want the children to see the other’s grandparents, there better be a reason because the other parent is certainly allowed to have the children see the grandparents on their time.

It’s only if there’s some sort of reason and a court makes a finding that it’s detrimental for the children to be in that grandparent’s care. I imagine some sort of emotional abuse or physical abuse or something like that. Yeah.

Yeah. Bonnie, if people have questions about this, I know they do based on what people write to us all the time. And by the way, people, if you have questions or suggestions that you’d like us to cover, please be in touch with Bonnie and we’ll be sure we cover it.

Tell us how people can be in touch with you. Well, if you have suggestions about topics you’d like to hear on this, you can reach out through our website at www.PrimusFamilyLaw.com. Use the info form, that’s our submission form, and just put in the subject, you know, suggested topics for Family Law Matters, and we’ll listen to them and bring them up like we do for others. If you have any questions about the topic discussed today, you can reach me at 619-574-8000 and you will be put on my calendar for a free 30-minute phone consultation.