• North Carolina law allows grandparents to seek custody or visitation.North Carolina state contour against blurred USA flag image by Stasys Eidiejus from Fotolia.com
  
  When parents divorce, grandparents often lose contact with their grandchildren. In North Carolina, grandparents have the right to request visitation during divorce proceedings but may not disturb the family unit once the divorce has been settled. Grandparents may also seek custody of their grandchildren if they believe the parents are unfit.
  
  

Visitation Rights

• Grandparents are not automatically granted visitation rights when the parents divorce in North Carolina. However, grandparents have the right to petition the court for visitation rights during divorce proceedings. Grandparents may ask for visitation rights even if one or both parents object. The court decides visitation rights based upon the children's best interest; if grandparents demonstrate that they have a close, ongoing relationship with their grandchildren, the court is more likely to grant visitation rights.
  
  

Adoption and Visitation Rights

• In cases where a step-parent adopts her step-children, North Carolina allows grandparents to petition the courts for visitation rights. In cases where strangers adopt a child at birth and both biological parents' rights over the child are terminated, biological grandparents do not have the right to seek visitation with the child.
  
  

Custody

• Grandparents have the right to seek custody of their grandchildren if they believe both parents to be unfit. In this case, it is not enough to show that it is in the child's best interests to be raised by their grandparents; the grandparents must prove that the parents are neglectful or abusive. For example, grandparents cannot seek custody on the grounds that their discipline methods are superior to those of the parents, even if they can prove that being subjected to the parents' methods are not in the child's best interest. They can, however, seek custody on the grounds that the parents are neglectful or abusive if the parents' discipline methods result in physical harm to the children.
  
  

Seeking Rights After Divorce is Settled

• After a divorce is finalized, North Carolina considers the parent and child living together to be an intact family unit and does not allow grandparents to intervene by demanding visitation or custody. If a parent reopens the case by seeking to modify custody arrangements, grandparents may petition the court for visitation or custody during the new trial.