Maine grandparents’ legal rights, guidelines, regulations, and rules of law allow you to ask for visitation, and temporary custody of your grandchildren. ME grandparents can also file for full custody, guardianship, or adoption, to raise their grand-kids, through a ME family law custody court judicial process. The proper legal advice, guidance, and strategies are key to ensure a successful outcome to any predicament regarding your grandchildren. Fortunately, studies have shown that the “Best Interests” for your grandchildren is that they have an active relationship with their grandparents. Grandfathers and grandmothers can often provide a healthier and more stable environment than the children’s biological parents. As a result, Maine’s “Best Interest of the Child” guideline fully supports a grandparents’ rights for visitation and custody. The legal extent to which you can visit, provide, and support your grandchildren will need to be determined and approved through a ME family law court hearing litigation process.
Children are all too often kept from their grandparents, or exposed to abuse and neglect. Typically, most if not all of these circumstances
are completely out of their control. This unhealthy environment is a damaging situation for children’s emotional and physical well-being. Children often don’t have a voice to be heard, and it is our responsibility as grandparents to be that voice. A voice that defends, supports, protects, and cares for all grandchildren that so desperately need our help.
The Maine Judicial Legal System Recognizes the Importance of Grandparents’ Rights Regarding Visitation and Custody of Grandchildren; and Fully Understands That Abuse and Neglect are Prevalent in ME Families.
ME family law fully acknowledges the ability for grandparents to provide a positive and stable environment. An environment, which is able to provide leadership, and a parenting platform so many children desperately need. Grandchildren even spending limited time with their grandparents can help provide the much-needed comfort and security that children require on a regular basis.
The situation grandchildren are exposed to varies greatly. Some are in a positive stable environment, and grandparents are simply denied access or may be allowed very limited contact with their grandchildren. The other end of the spectrum is a situation that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. If you can prove your grandchildren are being subjected to an abusive and neglectful environment, the Maine judicial system will act quickly and forcefully on your behalf. Don’t think for one second that as grandparents your rights will be restricted or limited. Remember, the “Best Interest of the Children” is a standard that is fully recognized and supported in the state of Maine.
If your grandchildren are in an abusive or neglected environment you may file a petition for a ME child protective proceeding. If abuse, neglect, or imminent danger exist, child protective services may enforce an emergency removal of the children and place them into protective custody. A child protective proceeding is typically followed by a number of court hearings. A fact-finding court hearing is set to determine if the allegations are true. A dis-positional hearing is set to decide what should be done if the child has been neglected or abused. Finally, a permanency hearing is set to determine and finalize the permanent placement and security of the children.
It’s important to recognize, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) was established to ensure that any
child custody litigation occurs in the child’s “home state”. The “home state” is defined as the last state where a child has lived for 6 consecutive months with a parent. This act was adopted to discourage parents from moving out-of-state in an attempt to manipulate the judicial system for whatever reason. Parental attempted kidnapping by moving children to another state or jurisdiction was one of the main reasons the UCCJEA was adopted.
Maine Grandparents’ Legal Rights, Guidelines, Regulations, and Rules of Law Enable You to Defend Your Visitation Rights, Fight for Custody, or the “Best Interests” of Your Grandchildren Through ME Family Law.
The modification to your grandchild’s custody situation may be modified in Maine on your behalf. In some cases it will be a temporary modification based on a continuing effort of both parents to SUCCESSFULLY overcome the obstacles that prevent them from retaining full custody again. Parents inability to provide a safe, stable, humane, and secure home environment can be due to many different factors, including but not limited to: (substance abuse, incarceration, mental health issues, anger management, poor leadership skill sets, endangerment, physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic violence, divorce, etc.). In other cases you may be awarded full custody. Often times, full custody comes with the option to legally adopt your grandchildren.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you have no legal rights in the state of Maine when it
comes to your grandchildren. ME family law will help ensure your grand-kids get what they deserve and need. Remember to focus your efforts on their “Best Interests” at all times. Your grandchildren will thank you when they are mature enough to realize the decisions and sacrifices you made for them and their future.
I cannot stress enough, the fact that grandchildren need their grandparents. For some grand-kids seeing their grandparents on a regular basis is the best option. Others need to be removed from a physically and emotionally damaging environment permanently. Grandparents are often the first and best option for children to find the stable and secure environment they desperately need and deserve. Check out the links below to help secure visitation with your grandchildren, or fight for the rights of someone who is unable to defend themselves.
- Click Here 😎 for a State-Specific GRANDPARENTS’ RIGHTS MANUAL, and a GRANDPARENTS GOING TO CUSTODY COURT TO ASSERT THEIR LEGAL RIGHTS MANUAL. Both Contain State-Specific Laws, Regulations, Guidelines, and Strategies for Maine (ME), and all Fifty States. All the Necessary Legal Forms and Paperwork are Included to Provide the Tools You Need to Secure Visitation, and an Appropriate Environment for Your Grandchildren.
- Click Here 😎 if You or Someone You Know Wishes to Create Their Own Professional Quality Visitation Schedule, Visitation Calendar, Parenting Plan Agreement, Expense Reports, and MUCH MORE. This Allows You to Track Actual Visitation Time and Expenses, Prepare for any Negotiation or Court Appearance, Save $$$… on Attorney Fees, Spend Less Time in Court, and More Time with Your Grandchildren or Children.
The time to act is now, because all children deserve the best that our society has to offer. As a Maine grandparent you have rights. 
These rights enable you to request visitation, and also allow you to be a voice for someone who may desperately need your help and support. Life can come with many challenges, but if you believe that everything happens for a reason then life’s challenges will suddenly become an obstacle with a manageable solution. Don’t forget, Maine grandparents’ legal rights, regulations, guidelines, and rules of law, regarding grandchild visitation and custody, were also legislated for guidance, advice, and strategies to support the “Best Interests of the Children” standard through ME family law.
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Grandparents’ Rights for Visitation, Custody, and Support
Grandparents' Visitation Rights and Custody Rights allow a legal request for visitation and temporary custody of grandchildren. Grandparents seeking full custody, to raise their grandchildren, have the authority to file for legal guardianship or adoption through a family law custody court hearing judicial process. Read More →
 Grandparents’ Rights for Visitation, Custody, and Support){kind=link}
Please help me. My grand baby is in a very unstable and neglectful environment. Her mother has proven to be unable to make decisions to provide for her best interest. Including committing welfare fraud by having the boyfriend, she lives with, collecting state payments for childcare. Yet they have no stable home, and spend the money on themselves while they wait for a handout for the things the child needs. She has made no effort to remove her children from an environment of lice infestation, drug abuse, and neglect of the other children there. In fact she leaves her own children to be cared for by the same people she takes issue with neglecting their own children. I am very worried and upset because if I say anything she doesn’t like, instantly the baby is taken from me. She was with me for the last few weeks only going to them for christmas night, and now she says I am not taking her again. It’s very disturbing. His own family contacts me because they are greatly concerned about their neglectful abuse. I don’t know what to do.
I am a grandparent of 1 at this time. My son is divorced and his X is very difficult with him and us. We were told to no longer contact her or she will report us for harassment. So we are unable to call our grandchild and never know if she has anything going on (sometimes she keeps things from dad). When we do reach out, we do not get a response or instead she tells us to stop calling/texting. I am looking for a legal way to get her to respond, and include us and not tell us to stop contacting her or else. We would like to take her sometime after work or on the weekend, and go for a walk or to take her to the park and out to eat. Please let me know how to go about. Thank you, Lisa
My granddaughter was taken from my daughter when she was four months old by Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). I have been completely ignored throughout this whole process. Aubrey will be three years old in March, and the only time I see her is when my daughter has visitation! I don’t know why things are happening the way they are, now DHHS is saying that they have concerns that they don’t want her visiting her mother at my home. They’ve never been to my home! I need your help.
When our granddaughter was born she came to live with us right from the hospital. She was two days old. Due to the fact her mother had her other children taken away 8 months prior for neglect, and she was dating my son who is on the sex offender registry. We had our granddaughter for roughly 8 – 9 months and then DHHS returned her to her mother, as her mother had done everything they asked and it looked good on paper. It didn’t matter that during the time we had our granddaughter that (1) The mother was breastfeeding her and would never bring over any extra milk for her but would feed her when she came to visit. I supplemented with formula. (2) It was well documented that while in our care, the mother went days without visiting or even calling to see how she was. (3) After a few months when she was old enough her mother approached DHHS about putting her in Daycare because she was finding it hard to visit her while she was in my care and they agreed. Through many court appearances, she was allowed to go back to her mother, and we had visitations on the weekends. That changed about 2 months in as she accused us of abuse as the baby had bruises on her legs. Which could have come from learning to crawl. So she held her from us for over a month till there was a family team meeting, and it was decided that we could see her at the DHHS office so they could observe. We had two visits there and then went to court, and it was decided that we would get her back on weekends. Visits are supervised for my son at our home on Sunday and Mondays. Things have been going good till recently. I was even flexible and change days when she had something going on with her boyfriends family or with her other kids that she has back now. My concern is the fact she lives with her boyfriends family, and they buy the stuff she needs for the baby. She does not work and does not intend to. She is not receiving any money that I am aware of as when the baby gets new stuff the boyfriend’s mother will speak up and say she has bought it for her. So how is this good for my granddaughter? I thought when DHHS sent her back that she had to be able to support her children, but she is not doing anything. Now she is trying to change the visitation schedule to fit her. Her other children do not see their father’s side of the family. My granddaughter see her father every weekend. Can you please give me some advice as my stomach is all in knots. As of last weekend we were told she could not longer go to church with us on Sundays even though that is our and her father’s day. She said she would bring her over after church. Thank you
My four grandchildren were taken from their parents when their mentally ill mother accused their father of doing things to her and had him arrested. It was actually her whoring around. Now 2 years later, there is a court date coming up. Neither parent may get the kids because the foster parents want to adopt them. I am the paternal grandmother. The kids should be with family. I live in Missouri, can I get them?