New Jersey Grandparent Rights Lawyers
Current New Jersey law provides grandparents the right to apply to the Court for visitation with their grandchildren. The application, however, involves complex legal issues and complicated emotional and psychological concerns. A grandparent’s application often results from the death or divorce of the grandparent’s child or a rift between the grandparents and their child or the child’s spouse. Clearly, if you are being denied a relationship with your grandchild and you are considering seeking the Court’s assistance to remedy the situation, the circumstances have become hostile and you’ll need professional, legal help.
With over 30 years’ experience, Richard C. Klein, Esq., recently merged his practice with the renowned firm of Becker Meisel, LLC, with Mr. Klein sitting as Chair of the firm’s Family Law Department. He exclusively practices family law and understands the challenges inherent to issues of grandparent rights in New Jersey. As experience New Jersey Grandparents Rights lawyers, Mr. Klein and the other attorneys in his Department are well-equipped with the knowledge and skills to navigate the complexities of a grandparent’s visitation application in the courts. Because the proceedings will involve complicated considerations along with high emotions, you’ll need Richard C. Klein’s experienced legal representation on your side if you are considering grandparents’ rights litigation. Mr. Klein’s success in defending grandparents’ rights is well-documented.
New Jersey’s Grandparents Visitation Statute
If grandparents have been prevented from seeing their grandchild, they can make application to the court for visitation under New Jersey’s Grandparents Visitation Statute, N.J.S.A. 9:27.1. Under the Statute, a grandparent bears the burden of proving “by a preponderance of the evidence” that visitation is in the best interests of the child. In determining the best interests, the court considers the following eight factors:
1. The relationship between the child and the grandparent;
2. The relationship between the grandparent and each of the child’s parents or the person with whom the child is residing;
3. The time elapsed since the last contact with the grandparent;
4. How visitation will affect the relationship between the child and the child’s parents or the person with whom the child is residing;
5. Any time-sharing arrangement which exists between divorced or separated parents with regard to the child;
6. The grandparent’s “good faith” in filing the application;
7. Any history of abuse or neglect by the grandparent; and
8. Any other relevant factor.
The Statute provides that the fact that a grandparent has been a full-time caretaker for the grandchild in the past is”prima facie evidence” that visitation would be in the child’s best interest. While “on its face” this previous custody relationship may support a grandparent’s application, it may be rebutted and the Court will look to the other statutory factors in reaching its decision. For this reason, if you are considering going to court to enforce your rights as grandparents to visit your grandchildren, you need a proven team of New Jersey Grandparents’ Rights lawyers on your side.
Moriarty v. Bradt
Although this Statute allows a grandparent to apply to the Court for visitation rights, the Statute does not make the visitation automatic. As a result of the groundbreaking case of Moriarty v. Bradt, grandparents may prove to the Court that they meet the eight factors set forth in the New Jersey Grandparents’ Visitation Statute and that visitation with their grandchild is in the best interest of the child, and their application may still be unsuccessful.
In Moriarty v Bradt, 177 N.J. 84 (2003), the Court in effect changed the burden of proof . The Court held that before grandparent visitation can be ordered over the objection of the child’s parent, a Court must find that an actual harm, which includes emotional and psychological harm, will result to the child’s health or welfare without such visitation. So, even if a grandparent satisfies the Court’s review of the factors set forth in the Statute, visitation will only be ordered if the grandparent can also prove by a preponderance of the evidence that without the visitation, harm as defined above will occur to the grandchild.
The Moriarty Court found that imposing this stringent burden on the grandparent was the only way to protect the due process rights, under the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, of competent parents to raise their child as they see fit. If a competent or “fit” parent, believing it’s in the best interest of the child, objects to visitation with a child’s grandparents, there is a presumption in favor of the parent’s decision-making authority. As a result, the Court will not interfere with the wishes of the fit parent absent proof that the grandchild will be harmed without the visitation.
Since Moriarty v. Bradt, the New Jersey Appellate Courts have denied the applications of numerous grandparents, even those of grandparents who previously played substantial and influential roles in their grandchildren’s lives. Yet, with the proper strategic and legal efforts, many applications are successfully obtained. Our experienced, knowledgeable New Jersey Grandparents’ Rights attorneys are prepared to thoroughly present the proofs necessary to prevail in a grandparent’s application for visitation.
In fact, our attorneys recently won an important victory defending grandparents’ rights in the New Jersey Appellate Division of the Court. In that recent case, the grandparents were the children’s temporary foster parents for almost two years before the children were adopted by other relatives. After the adoption, they were allowed visitation by the adoptive parents for two years before the adoptive parents refused further visitation. The court ruled that the adoption statute did not preclude contact between the children and their biological grandparents and that the considerations under the Grandparents’ Visitation statute should be applied. Richard C. Klein and Drew A. Molotsky of the firm successfully argued that the grandparents’ request for visitation after adoption by other relatives should be granted under those considerations. This recent grandparents’ rights case reinforces the importance of the relationship between children and their grandparents and the need to protect that relationship.
Richard C. Klein, Esq., and our staff of lawyers and paraprofessionals are in the forefront of grandparents’ rights litigation. Our New Jersey Grandparents’ Rights lawyers are well-respected in the courtrooms in Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Hunterdon, and Mercer Counties, and throughout New Jersey. If you are considering a grandparent visitation application, contact our office to discuss the facts of your case, the possibility of mediating the matter prior to court proceedings, and the likelihood of overcoming the stringent burden set out in Moriarty v. Bradt.
Call our New Jersey Grandparents’ Rights attorneys today at 856-779-8700 to discuss your grandparent visitation rights.
Richard C. Klein, ESQ.
Woodland Falls Corporate Center
220 East Lake Drive
Suite 102
Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08002
Toll Free: 888-763-4490 | Telephone: 856-779-8700 | Fax: 856-779-8716