Most states have statutes that allow grandparents to ask the court to compel visitation.
Many of these statutes allow the grandparents to make this request only if the parents are separated or divorced or if one parent is deceased. Often, grandparents' visitation can be included in the child custody decision. Some statutes allow any third party to request visitation and allow grandparents to request visitation even if the parents are still together. Just because a grandparent has the ability to ask the court for visitation does not mean, however, that visitation will be granted. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that unless a child's parents are unfit, courts must give deference to the parents' decisions regarding who gets visitation and how much.