Under Ohio law, a court can award visitation rights to a grandparent  during or after a domestic relations proceeding if the grandparent has aninterest in the welfare of the child and visitation is in the best interest of the child.  A court can also award visitation rights to a grandparent if a parentis deceased or the child’s mother was unmarried when the child was born. Before awarding grandparent visitation rights in Ohio, a court must considerall relevant factors, including all factors listed in statute. In 2000, the United States Supreme Court held that a Washington grandparent visitation statute was unconstitutional as applied in a particularcase because it infringed on the fundamental right of a parent to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of his or her child. However, a recent  Ohio Supreme Court case determined that this decisiondoes not apply to Ohio and held that the Ohio third-party visitation statutesare constitutional on their face.Grandparent visitation: when granted  Historically, grandparents had no legal right of access to their grandchild, and parents had complete authority to grant or deny the privilege of visitation.

 Ohio has authorized grandparent companionship or visitation rights by statutein three circumstances: (1) when married parents terminate their marriageor separate, (2) when a parent of a child is deceased, and (3) when the childis born to an unmarried woman. In such cases, a court may order reasonablevisitation if it is in the best interest of the child.

PREPARED BY: LAURA SCHNEIDER, LSC RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

REVIEWED BY: MICHAEL O’NEILL, LSC DIVISION CHIEF