Grandparents reunited with grandchildren as legal rights expand

By Diego Garcia

CHICAGO — Tragically, a loving Chicago father died, leaving behind two wonderful pre-school-age children. These children had lived with their parents at their paternal grandparents’ home since birth. The grandparents loved and cared for these children. They had a close, loving relationship with them. When the parents were at work, the grandparents fed the children, took them for walks, took them to museums and parks, read to them and put them to bed.

When Dad died, according to court documents, the mother shockingly dismissed the grandparents from the children’s lives, ending their relationship with the children. The mother not only moved out of the grandparents’ home with the children and without notice to the grandparents, but tried to cut them out of the children’s lives completely. Although the grandparents provided the children with love and devotion, the mother would not let the grandparents visit with the children and would not even let the grandparents talk to them.

The grandparents turned to the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd. “My legal team and I quickly reconnected the grandparents with their grandchildren,” says attorney Jeffery M. Leving, founder and president of the firm. “We pursued an aggressive strategy and won a landmark decision that provided the grandparents with grandparent time, holiday grandparent time, extended time during the summer with their grandchildren, and when the children begin to attend school, then half of the grandchildren’s time on winter break and on alternating spring breaks, the children will be solely with their grandparents. I believe this is in the best interests of the children, which is what it’s all about.”

Leving will speak about the case on his radio show, the Dads Rights Legal Hour, airing 9–10 a.m. CDT Saturday, March 27 on Power 92.3 FM in Chicago.

As a result of the Leving firm’s strong advocacy and caring and compassionate concern for these grandparents and their grandchildren, they will now continue to be a huge part of their grandchildren’s lives and they will again be able to provide love, care and nurturing to the great benefit of these children.

By achieving this hard-fought victory, modified for broadcast, the Leving legal team expanded grandparents’ legal rights to be in their grandchildren’s lives. This victory confirms that grandparents’ rights play an important role in the protection of the young and the welfare of the next generation.

In his book Divorce Wars, Leving identifies grandparents’ rights as an emerging and critical issue. When divorce occurs, one parent may no longer want their ex-spouse’s parents to continue to love and care for the children. In turn, the grandparents may file a motion for visitation, especially if they, along with their adult child, are cut out of their grandchild’s life. The courts are acknowledging, as in this victory, that under certain circumstances grandparents do indeed have legal rights in these matters, especially if they’ve been an integral part of a child’s life and a strong bond has been established.

“My message to grandparents is, you can be a valuable and influential part of your grandchildren’s lives,” Leving says. “We shouldn’t toss grandparents overboard with the death of a parent or a parental breakup.”

Jeffery M. Leving is founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd., and is an advocate for the rights of fathers. In addition to Divorce Wars, Leving is the author of Fathers’ Rights — published in English, Spanish and Chinese — and How to be a Good Divorced Dad. To learn more about Jeffery M. Leving and his latest court victories, follow him on Twitter and Facebook, and view his videos on You Tube.