What Are the Visitation Rights of Grandparents, Great-grandparents, and Siblings?

 Posted on August 03, 2015 in Child Custody

Under Illinois law, grandparents, great-grandparents, and siblings of a minor child who is one year or older, have standing to bring an action in circuit court by a petition requesting visitation. The petition must be filed in the county in which the minor child(ren) reside.

A grandparent, great-grandparent, or sibling may file a petition for visitation rights to a minor child if there has been an unreasonable denial of visitation by a parent and at least one of the following conditions exist:

• The child’s other parent is deceased or has been missing for at least 3 months;
• A parent of the child is incompetent as a matter of law;
• A parent has been incarcerated in jail or prison during the 3 month period preceding the filing of the petition;
• The child’s mother and father are divorced or have been legally separated from each other or there is pending a dissolution proceeding involving a parent of the child or another court proceeding involving a parent of the child or another court proceeding involving custody or visitation of the child and at least one parent does not object to the grandparent, great-grandparent, or sibling having visitation with the child;
• The child is born out of wedlock, the parents are not living together, and the petitioner is a maternal grandparent, great-grandparent, or sibling of the child born out of wedlock; or
• The child is born out of wedlock, the parents are not living together, the petitioner is a paternal grandparent, great-grandparent, or sibling, and the paternity has been established by court.

If you are a grandparent, great-grandparent, or sibling and wish to enforce your rights to visitation, your best chance at success will be to hire an experienced attorney to help you with your case. If you are in need of legal representation in a visitation action, contact Weiss-Kunz & Oliver, LLC at 312- 605-4041 to schedule an initial consultation.