Do Grandparents Have a Constitutional Right to Visit Their Grandchildren?
(2/18/07)- The New York State Court of Appeals, which is the state’s highest court, has upheld the constitutionality of New York’s visitation law for grandparents. In this particular case the court voted 6-0 in favor of the grandmother Ethel Shutz’s of East Hampton right to visit with her 13 year-old grandson, whom she had cared for from the ages 4 through 7, when she was in fact his surrogate mother. The boy’s father (named P.D. in the court papers), who had chosen to be anonymous, argued that the New York law was unconstitutional. He cited the Troxel case, which we discuss in the latter part of this article, wherein the U. S .Supreme Court decided that the state of Washington’s visitation law was unconstitutional.. Under New York State law, grandparents can seek visitation rights if one parent of the child is dead. Judges can grant grandparents visitation rights if one parent of the child is dead. If the surviving parent objects to the right of visitation the grandparent must establi
