Help Please! Can grandparent take parent to court for access to grandchild?

[Ghar88]

Hi, I’m really hoping someone on here may be able to help.

My other half is currently being threatened by her parents to be taken to court in order to gain access to her daughter.

To cut a very long story short, they have always been overly judgmental of her and cut her off when they feel she has done something they don’t like, and there has been a lot of emotional neglect down the years.

Despite this she has always tried to maintain a good relationship with them (mostly out of a longing for a family, and for her daughter to have a relationship with her grandparents), however it all came to a head recently when she expressed her opinion as a parent which her mum didn’t like, and it led to her mum telling her to never contact her again.

So right now we believe that this sort of relationship is never going to have anywhere near a positive impact on my other half’s daughter, hence our decision for them to not have access.

There is far more I could touch upon as to how manipulative they’ve been, how they’ve undermined my other half’s decision, and other stuff that’s happened in the past which has led to this, but honestly I think I’d crash this website.

But my question in a nutshell is: what legal rights do they have to take this to court? We’ve just had an email inviting my other half to mediation, but quite frankly we can’t see any reason why she’d accept, knowing that the damage is already done and this has always been a toxic relationship which is now beyond repair, and also we strongly believe that their motive behind this is not to make amends or reconcile the relationship, it is purely to continue to cut my other half out but still have access to her daughter...

Appreciate this is probably quite a rare topic, but we have no idea how this could play out, so if anyone has any information they could give us on what to expect and whether we have any legal obligations here, we’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

[des8]

Hi and welcome
A very sad situation, but unfortunately not that uncommon.

Only those with parental responsibility can apply to the court for a contact order, but grandparents can apply for permission to apply for a contact order.
The court will look at the nature of the request, existing connection with the child and possibility of any potential harm to the child.
If permission is granted and application made there will be a full hearing if either parent objects to the contact application

The court will consider the effect on the child and whether or not allowing contact will be detrimental to other family relationships

it is only in extreme circumstance that a court will refuse access to grandchildren.