Significance

• The U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark case held that a Washington statute allowing visitation in these circumstances violated parents' constitutional due process rights to decide what was in their children's best interests (see, Troxel v. Granville).
  
  

Features

• Grandparents who are seeking visitation rights must petition the state's family law court to request it. If the child's parents are divorced, the court may allow it if it is within the child's best interests. The court may consider parental wishes and whether the grandparents have attempted to have a meaningful relationship with their grandchildren.
  
  

Considerations

• Courts will not allow visitation for natural grandparents of a child who was legally adopted. If the child was born out of wedlock, then courts may consider public policy issues when awarding visitation. If the grandparents are paternal grandparents and the child's father has never established paternity, then most courts will not grant visitation. After formal legitimization and a child support order, the court may award it.