Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

Re: Grandparents rights visitation

Grandparents may petition for court ordered visitation with a grandchild under certain circumstances set out in Indiana Code 31-17-5. A court must determine that visitation is in the best interests of the grandchildren. Complaints about the manner in which a family lives that you believe endangers their children should be made to the local Office of Children and Family, the local police or a local number in your telephone book for child abuse reporting. Not every disagreement between grandparents and parents is sufficient grounds for an investigation of the home. The child must live in Indiana, one parent must be dead OR the parents marriage dissolved in Indiana OR paternity of the child has been established. If the parents of the child with whom you wish to visit are still married to each other, then a grandparent cannot seek visitation rights. If a father has not established paternity, then the grandparents have no right to establish visitation. I do not believe that the county prosecutor offices in Indiana will represent grandparents for the purpose of establishing visitation.