Any Long Island Family Lawyer will tell you that on Long Island, like in other parts of New York, the divorce or legal separation of a couple impacts countless grandparents each year. Changes in a family’s circumstances, from the parents’ break-up or Divorce to the family’s relocation, can reduce the amount and kind of access a grandparent may have to their grandchild. A Long Island Grandparents Rights Lawyer knows that this Family Law issue can get especially difficult if the relationship between one parent and his/her in-laws has grown strained. At the offices of Stephen Bilkis & Associates, PLLC, the contributions you make to your grandchild’s life—and the ways in which your grandchildren enrich your own—are appreciated by each New York Grandparents Rights Lawyer on our team. Therefore, they stand ready to offer a free consultation on how you may be able to protect your rights as grandparents.
We understand that cases of grandparents visitation or even custody can be challenging, and we know how these cases differ from standard Child Custody cases—a Fathers Rights case, for example, or a Mothers Rights case. Grandparents rights are more limited, and the New York state provisions around grandparent custody and grandparent visitation are some of the briefest of any U.S. state. The New York laws do provide for grandparent visitation when one or both of a child’s parents have died. And as in all other states, the child’s best interests will be the main determining factor. Typically, the Long Island Family Courts will grant you at least some access to time with your grandchildren when this is viewed as in the children’s best interests.
There are legal options for grandparents, however, and you should have assistance in understanding these. Your Long Island Grandparents Rights Lawyer will be aware of ways to help obtain an order from the court that grants you visitation rights, for instance. In certain circumstances, such as the death of a parent or a parent being judged unfit to care for the child, we can help the grandparent request guardianship or even permanent custody and adoption.
We will help you understand how to protect your relationship with your grandchild, and preserve your opportunity to spend time with them and be a positive part of their life. For free advice, speak to a Long Island Grandparents Rights Lawyer at Stephen Bilkis & Associates, PLLC as soon as you can. Our team has deep familiarity with Family Law cases ranging from Divorce and Child Custody to Visitation, Child Support and Paternity. And we can help get to arrangement that will be sensitive to the unique circumstances and needs of your family. Call 800.696.9529 and make an appointment with us and see a Long Island Family Lawyer. You can come meet in our Long Island offices, which are in Nassau County and, for greater convenience, also in Suffolk County. You can also come to the offices we have in all of New York City’s boroughs—in Manhattan, in nearby Brooklyn or in neighboring Queens, across on Staten Island or farther north in the Bronx. We also have an office in Westchester County, if you prefer to meet there.