Grandparent's visitation right is a recently constituted law. In the past, grandparents had no visitation rights to visit their grandchildren after a divorce. In 70s, the divorce courts of all the states of US granted, grandparents, visitation rights. Grandparents can file a petition under these visitation rights, if parents of their grandchildren are restricting their children from meeting their grandparents. Under grandparent visitation rights, grandparents are even granted child custody in case the parents are imprisoned or mentally incapacitated.
Recently, the US court has passed legislation and has set-out weekend as the grandparent visitation day. Grandparents only have to prove how the child will be adversely affected emotionally, physically or both in case s/he is denied grandparents visitation rights.
If the parents and grandparents are unable to reach an agreement on grandparent' visitation issue, the court may suggest mediation. The mediator tries to help grandparents and parents with reaching a workable solution. However like all child custody related issues, a child's best interest is the deciding factor when a divorce court is granting grandparent visitation rights.
