Grandparents’ rights through divorce


It is a sad fact of life that, when parents are going through an acrimonious separation, the children may suffer through the trauma of seeing their parents splitting up and pick up on the atmospheres and hostilities between them. Sadly, it is also common for separating parents to try and score points against the other spouse and his/her parents.

Most of the time, children have a very strong bond with their grandparents, as well as other family members such as cousins, aunts, uncles and so on. All too often, one spouse will try and hurt the other by criticising his/her parents over being involved in matters relating to the marriage, and think it is “ok” to stop contact between grandparents and the children. It is of course ultimately the children who will suffer the most through having ties with grandparents severed, when a lot of the time it is those very grandparents who can soothe the pain that separation can cause for children.

Barker Gotelee can advise on the legal rights available to grandparents who feel that the children are being wronged during the course of a relationship breakdown. We advise grandparents in cases where divorce has led to obstructed or restricted relationships with grandchildren, helping to prevent the interference of the relationship between the children and their relatives.

Carol Robinson is a solicitor in the Family department at Barker Gotelee Solicitors.

Ipswich Family Solicitors – for more information on our range of legal services, please call the team on 01473 611211 or email [email protected]