Grandparents’ Rights Attorneys in North Carolina & South Carolina

As of 2022, approximately 2.55 million children live in the same home as their grandmothers and/or grandfathers. Courts have come to recognize that grandparents play an important part in raising healthy, well-adjusted children. 

As a grandparent, you need to be able to obtain rights to visitation, custody, and/or adoption of your grandchild if your grandson or granddaughter is ever in a compromising situation under the care of his or her parents.

Passionately Fighting for Grandparents’ Rights

At Collins Family & Estate Law Group, we understand that child custody disputes are difficult for everyone in the family. While the main focus of a custody action is the parents and their children, many other people are affected—including the grandparents. 

We know that, as a grandparent, your primary concern is the well-being of your grandchild, and you will fight for the opportunity to give as much love, care, and support as possible.

Our attorneys in NC and SC will tirelessly advocate for your rights to see your grandchildren if the circumstances of the case allow you to take legal action. 

Grandparent Visitation & Custody Rights in North & South Carolina

As a grandparent, you may have grounds to fight for more rights regarding your grandchild. We take grandparents’ rights in NC and SC seriously.

We can fight on your behalf to help secure the following and more:

• General grandchild visitation rights
• Vacation and travel rights
• Scheduled contact rights, such as phone calls and emails
• Regular updates on your grandchild’s well-being and home life, ensuring the child’s residence is not abusive or neglectful

In North Carolina and South Carolina, there are several statutes in place to help grandparents obtain visitation and custody rights to their grandchildren. These statutes merely help you ask for these rights; they don’t necessarily ensure that they’ll be granted to you. 

Ask our attorneys to help you determine which statute will most benefit you and the best way to proceed for your circumstances.

Obtaining Custody Rights

All parents have constitutional rights to raise their children. It is well within a parent’s rights to say who their children can spend time with, so if you are a grandparent seeking physical or legal custody of your grandchild, you must establish a reason to bring your case to a lawsuit.

Before you do this, however, you need to prove that the child’s parents are unfit to raise their child. Be aware that it isn’t easy to override a parent’s constitutionally given right to custody, so if you have reason to believe that your grandchild is in unfit hands, speak with one of our attorneys in NC or SC as soon as possible to find out if you have a case.

Path to Visitation: Grandparents’ Legal Strategies

As a grandparent in North or South Carolina, you have the right to petition the court for visitation rights if a divorce, separation, or death has interfered with your grandchild’s family life to the point that his or her parents no longer live together. Sometimes, separation and divorce proceedings will enumerate the visitation rights of the grandparents. 

If your grandchild’s stepparent has adopted him or her, you can still get court-ordered visitation if you can show that you already have a significant relationship established with your grandchild. The states have not defined what this means in legal terms, but the courts almost always grant visitation rights to grandparents who have had a significant role in raising the child, or who have been actively involved with the child through regular visits. 

The approach you take to obtaining visitation rights depends on whether the child and parents have a custody order already in place. If a custody order does exist, all you need to do is file a motion to intervene and request visitation rights to your grandchild. 

In most cases, the court will enter an order for child custody and provide you with visitation rights, so long as the visits are considered to be within the child’s best interests. Our legal team can give you the best chance of success in this process.