Grandparents play a huge role in the lives of children. Various studies have shown that kids who grow up with their grandparents as an integral part of the family become healthy and stable adults later in their lives. In an environment where both parents are working full time, grandparents can play a vital role in providing the right guidance and security to the kids.

When it comes to Grandparents’ rights, there is no uniformity. Different states have different laws and their rights are determined according to the respective state laws. With such variation in state laws, it can be difficult for you to understand what rights you have as a grandparent. In this article, we will try to decode and understand in simple and clear terms the grandparents rights in Oklahoma. Once you are through this article, we hope that you will have a better understanding of grandparents’ rights in Oklahoma.

Factors that Determine Grandparent Visitation Rights

Before we proceed, let’s understand how a family court looks at the grandparent’s rights. The primary objective of the family court is to maintain or preserve the Parent-Child relationship. So the main focus is on the relationship between a parent and his/her children. Grandparents’ rights are generally opined to be secondary by most of the experts on this subject.

If you are a Grandparent, the court can grant you visitation rights in the following cases:

If visitation from the grandparent is in the best interest of the children:

In most cases, visitation from the Grandparent is considered in the best interest of the children. Unless you have a criminal record or a history of drug abuse, chances are that you will get visitation rights. It does not mean that if a grandparent has been convicted of a felony in the past then he/she would be denied visitation for sure. In such a case it might depend on the discretion of the family law judge.

Unfit parents and harm to the child:

If one of the parents or both are unfit in a way that affects the raising of a child then it increases the chances of a grandparent getting visitation rights. Here we are talking about both mental and physical fitness. What needs to be proved is that in the absence of a grandparent, a child might be at risk owing to the state of fitness of the parent.

State of the nuclear family:

Some other factors affecting the grandparent visitation rights that depend upon the state of the nuclear family. These factors can be easily understood. If the nuclear family gets dissolved somehow then the grandparent visitation rights come into the picture. For example, if the family gets affected because one of the parents has died, or if one of the parents is serving a sentence for a convicted felony, then grandparents are most likely going to be allowed visitation.

In some cases, we see that the custody of the child is taken away from the parents and the child is placed under the custody of a foster home. In such cases, grandparent rights are positively considered. But here you need to prove that you are not living with either of the parents of the child and the factors that lead to the loss of custody have nothing to do with you. There are some other instances too where grandparents can get visitation rights. For example, if you have already had the custody of the child in the past or if the parents keep on deserting the child again and again, then you are most likely going to get visitation rights.