Do Grandparents Have Any Legal Rights in Canada?

Sometimes a parent may decide that a grandparent is not to have any contact with their children. This, however, does not preclude the grandparents from applying to the court to be granted contact time with their grandchild.

So, do grandparents have any legal rights in Canada?

The issue at court usually is not whether the grandparents will be granted access to their grandchild but the duration and terms of the contact time. In fact, many cases have been successful in granting access to the grandchild by grandparents, the success of the application to court depends heavily on the facts of each case.

Some key factors that courts have considered in grandparental contact requests are:

  1. Firstly, the child’s best interest is of paramount importance. Similar to the law on child custody, whether a grandparent will be granted contact with a grandchild profoundly depends on the child’s best interests. In other words, the court must be satisfied that the relationship of the grandparent to the grandchild is important for the child’s well being. For example, in one case, a grandmother was denied access to her grandchild because that child’s psychological assessment revealed that he didn’t want contact with her. While the court took that into consideration to deny contact, the court permitted the grandmother to write letters to her grandson. However, this is an unusual case denying physical contact with a grandchild. In many cases grandparents have received some level of contact time with their grandchild. It is important for grandparents who wish to seek an order for contact with their grandchild to provide evidence of their past involvement in their grandchild’s life. The greater the involvement in the grandchild’s life the greater chance of receiving some contact time.
  2. Secondly, the court provides significant consideration to the custodial parents wishes. If, for example, the parent with custody has reason to believe that contact with the grandparent is not in the best interest of the child, the parent may be correct in denying contact time with that grandparent. However, if the parent is being unreasonable in refusing any contact time with a grandparent, a court may intervene and make an order in favour of the grandparent.
  3. Lastly, the court may refuse to allow contact time for a grandparent where there is a conflict between the parent and grandparent. This is to prevent a child from being placed in the middle of a conflict. The court will consider, however, the possibility of a parent alleging conflict merely to prevent grandparents from getting contact time.

A child maintaining a relationship with grandparents and extended family is often important part of a child’s development. Should you require assistance in obtaining contact time with a grandchild please contact us at 604-449-7779 for assistance.