Allowing a court to grant a grandparent or great-grandparent visitation rights of a child in certain circumstances

Under current law, if a parent of a child is deceased, a court may enter an order granting visitation rights with the child to the child’s grandparent or great-grandparent (grandparent) if the court finds such visitation is in the child’s best interests; the grandparent and the child have a substantial established relationship prior to the grandparent petitioning for visitation rights; and the surviving parent is either unfit to make a decision regarding such visitation or the parent’s judgment has been impaired and the benefits the child would receive from visitation greatly outweigh the effects such visitation would have on the child’s parent-child relationship. This bill eliminates the requirement that a parent must be unfit to make a decision regarding grandparent visitation or that the parent’s judgment must be impaired and the benefits the child would receive from visitation greatly outweigh the effects such visitation would have on the child’s parent-child relationship.