Do Grandparents have visitation rights following a Mississippi divorce?
Mississippi Grandparents' Visitation Rights do exists.
As a Mississippi divorce attorney, I receive many questions about child custody. A recent e-mail asked about visitation rights for grandparents in Mississippi. When parties divorce in Mississippi, the divorce can impact the relationship grandchildren have with their grandparents. Sometimes the custodial parent does not want the children to see their grandparents or the non-custodial parent jealously protects the time they have with their children and may not share that time as they once did. For those grandparents who have forged a relationship with their grandchildren, it is a hopeless feeling. The problem is how to balance the parents’ rights to rear their children without interference from third parties (including grandparents) against the rights of the grandparents to have a relationship with their grandchildren—an important part of most children’s upbringing. In Mississippi, the legislature balanced those rights when it passed legislation protecting grandparents’ visitation rights in certain situations.
In Mississippi, chapter 16 of Title 93 essentially divides visitation rights for grandparents into two scenarios. Under Mississippi Code, Sec. 93-16-3 (1), a grandparent can petition the court for grandchild visitation if:
the child of the grandparent was not awarded custody; or
the child of the grandparent had his/her parental rights terminated; or
the child of the grandparent had died.
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