A common question to family law attorneys is what are the rights of grandparents under Georgia law to petition a court to visit with their grandchildren. These scenarios often arise when the parents of the children are either unmarried or the divorce, and the custodial parent restricts contact between the children and the grandparents. Georgia law offers several remedies to grandparents in these situations.

O.C.G.A. § 19-7-3(b) allows any grandparent to file an original action for visitation rights to minor child or to intervene in and seek visitation rights in any pending action with the custody of the child is at issue. The latter applies to divorce cases, custody modifications, and termination of parental rights actions. It also applies to adoptions where the adopted child has been adopted by a blood relative or by a stepparent. The grandparent must show by clear and convincing evidence that the health or welfare of the child will be harmed unless such visitation is granted and that the best interest of the child would be served by such visitation.

Grandparent visitation rights cases are complicated and certainly require the assistance of an experienced family law attorney. Our firm has experience in these cases and can provide you the assistance and expertise needed to obtain a favorable outcome. Please call our office for assistance.

Legislation recently introduced into the Georgia House of Representatives (HB 799) would allow the expungement of DUI convictions after the expiration of five years, so long as the person convicted had no other driving offenses within those five years.

Rep. Rusty Kidd, R-Milledgeville, said some people who make the mistake of driving drunk once have to live with a lifetime of problems, such as being disqualified from jobs or scholarships. "If you have a DUI, it never comes off your record," Kidd said. His House Bill 799 would give people "who keep their nose clean for five years" a second chance, he said.

You can read the article at this link. 

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-government/dui-record-could-be-1316786.html

We often receive inquiries in our office from people who incorrectly believe that a DUI conviction is automatically expunged after a certain period of time. There currently is no provision under Georgia law that allows this. If you support this legislation, then you may wish to contact your Georgia Representative to tell them that you do.

Fathers of children born out of wedlock generally have a small window to assert their rights and establish a legal relationship with a child. Under Georgia law, the biological father has an "opportunity interest" in establishing a relationship with the child. This interest can be lost if the father does not act in a timely manner to establish a relationship and provide for the child. Frequently, biological fathers fail to act timely and only initiate legal action when a child is several years old. At that point, a father who has not established and maintained a relationship with the child will undoubtedly be met with a defense from the mother that the father has "abandoned his opportunity interest" in establishing his relationship with his child.

Generally, a father can prove that he has not abandoned his opportunity interest by showing that he was actively involved in the child’s life and in caring for the mother since the time of the pregnancy. If a pregnant woman refuses to allow a biological father to establish a relationship with his child, then he must act quickly to protect the relationship through legal action. The best course of action is for the father to maintain contact with the pregnant mother throughout the pregnancy and then to file a legitimation action immediately upon the birth of the child. If the mother refuses contact from the father, that he should document all of his efforts in writing to substantiate his claim that he has not abandoned his opportunity interest.

In a recent case, Magdanal v. Hendrix, the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a Cobb County Superior Court order legitimating the minor child and concluded that the trial court had not clearly erred in finding that the father in that case had not abandoned his opportunity interest. The evidence showed that the mother and father had been involved in a three year relationship which ended just before the birth of their child. The biological father requested a DNA test and also initiated a child support case for the child. The father pay child support and was eventually confirmed by the DNA test as the father. He eventually filed a legitimation proceeding, in which the trial court granted the legitimation. On appeal, the Court affirmed that the trial court’s conclusion that the father did not abandon his opportunity interest was not clearly erroneous and should not be reversed.

It is clear from this case and others preceding it that a biological father of the child born out of wedlock can take steps to establish a relationship with his child. However, the time frame for doing so is not open-ended, and Georgia law also provides that a man who engages in sexual relations with a woman is statutorily on notice that he may have conceived a child with her. This "opportunity" to establish a relationship with his child therefore begins at conception, and a man who ignores this opportunity does so at his peril. The best advice is to take action immediately. Our firm has experienced attorneys who can help you with legitimation, custody and other family law issues. Please contact our office for assistance with your case.

A recent Georgia Supreme Court decision creates a potential minefield for biological grandparents of grandchildren who are adopted outside of their biological family. In Kunz v. Bailey, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ reversal of the trial court decision denying a motion to dismiss in a grandparent visitation rights case. The biological paternal grandparents had filed an action under O.C.G.A. § 19-7-3, seeking visitation rights with their biological grandchild who had been adopted by a stepparent after their son’s parental rights had been terminated. Initially, the child’s mother and new adoptive father had allowed visitation, but when those visitations ended, the grandparents sought judicial relief.

The Supreme Court held that the grandparent visitation rights statute applied to adoptive parents as well as biological parents, and therefore, since the adoptive parent and the biological mother were married and living together, and there was no custody action pending between them, the biological paternal grandparents had no right to file an action seeking visitation rights.

The legal principle created by this decision can put biological grandparents in a difficult position. If a child’s parental rights are terminated, then that child’s parents, a.k.a. the biological grandparents, can lose their rights to be involved in their grandchild’s life. Today, it is not unusual for a parent to surrender or have their parental rights terminated, so that the other parent’s new spouse can adopt the child. If you as a grandparent are faced with the termination or surrender of your child’s parental rights to your grandchild, then you should certainly seek the advice of an experienced family law attorney so that you will know your rights if and when the termination or surrender, and subsequent adoption of your grandchild, occurs. Our firm has experienced family law attorneys who can assist you with your case. Please contact our office for assistance.