Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Re: Grandparents rights after stepparent adoption

Your question falls within a developing area of Virginia law. Recent decisions of the Virginia Court of Appeals and the Virginia Supreme Court seem to say that, in an intact home with two parents, a court may only order visitation with a grandparent after a finding that failure to allow the visitation will harm the child. This would place the burden of proof of harm on the grandparents.

The state of the law is muddied because of language in the court decisions concerning families that are not "intact."

In my opinion, based on language contained in a Virginia Supreme Court decision and a recent US Supreme Court decision, you have a strong argument that ordering visitation with the grandmother in this case violates the constitutional rights that you and your husband have with regard to making decisions for your natural and his adopted daughter. However, it is likely that other attorneys or judges could argue that there are factual circumstances in your case that would justify a visitation order, especially since one currently exists.

I would strongly suggest that you seek the services of an attorney to present this argument to your court if this child's grandmother pursues the matter. I suspect that you could find one who would agree with my interpretation of the law. The trick, of course, is getting the judge to agree.

Please Note:

The answer to the question above does not constitute the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. The information provided is general in nature, and is not intended to, nor is there any representation that it does, meet your legal needs. You are strongly encouraged to obtain the services of legal counsel to pursue any legal rights and remedies you may have.