Do you have questions or concerns about child custody, adoption and grandparents' rights in Colorado? Grandparents' rights vary from state to state. Colorado is more generous than some states and more limiting than others.
The simple answer to the question "Do grandparents have visitation rights in Colorado?" is not simple. It depends.
To discuss your situation with an experienced grandparents rights Colorado attorney, please contact my law firm, the Law Offices of Doddridge C. Shelby, LLC, for a free consultation.
Under Colorado's Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act (UDMA), grandparents may seek visitation or parental rights if either:
The child is not in the physical care of his or her parent.
The child has been in the physical care of the grandparent for at least six months.
Under the Colorado Children's Code, a grandparent may request visitation:
When, following divorce, parental responsibilities have been allocated to a person other than the parent
When the child does not live the parent
When the parent has died
Grandparents' rights in Colorado, like parents' rights, are determined in view of what is in the best interest of the children.
Is it necessary for grandparents to go through a legal process to establish parental or visitation rights, if both parents have gone AWOL, for example, due to drug problems or other difficulties? Necessary? No. Wise? Yes. Why? If the missing parents return within six months to retrieve their children, the grandparents have no legal basis for stopping them.