TRIAL BY CHECKLIST: GRANDPARENT VISITATION
July 28, 2010 § 16 Comments
A practice tip about trial factors is here.
Martin v. Coop, 693 So.2d 912, 913 (Miss. 1997), factors for grandparent visitation:
- Potential disruption in the child’s life;
- Suitability of the grandparents’ home;
- The child’s age;
- The age and physical and mental health of the grandparents;
- The emotional ties between grandparents and the child;
- The grandparents’ moral fitness;
- Physical distance from the parents’ home;
- Any undermining of the parents’ discipline;
- The grandparents’ employment responsibilities;
- The grandparents’ willingness not to interfere with the parents’ rearing of the child.
Except in unusual circumstances, grandparent visitation should not be the equivalent of parental visitation. Martin v. Coop at 913.
If the court awards grandparent visitation equivalent to parental visitation, the court must make specific findings to support the award. Settle v. Galloway, 682 So.2d 1032, 1034-35 (Miss. 1996).
The Better Chancery Practice Blog 
[…] Best interest and whether visitation is in the child’s best interest are, under either type visitation, analyzed via the Martin v. Coop factors. […]
[…] I think it’s fair to say that most of us have construed 93-16-3(1) to mean that visitation in the specified cases is automatic, and that the real issue at such hearings is the amount and frequency of visitation, based on the trial judge’s analysis of the factors in Martin v. Coop. […]
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[…] Remember that the amount and extent of grandparent visitation may only be determined by the trial court after application of the Martin v. Coop factors. […]
[…] visitation cases, you need to be fully aware of the two major categories of cases, as well as the Martin v. Coop factors. Merely because you have grandparents who are willing to pay you a retainer to try for […]
[…] Grandparent visitation. […]
[…] 912 (Miss. 1997), in which the MSSC upheld the constitutionality of the statutes and established factors that trial courts were required to consider in adjudicating whether there should be grandparent visitation in a given case, and its […]
[…] After the petitioner has established entitlement to grandparent visitation under the statute, the chancellor must apply the factors set out in Martin v. Coop, 693 So.2d 912, 916 (Miss. 1997). The Martin v. Coop factors are here, in checklist form. […]
[…] Grandparent visitation. […]
[…] Grandparent visitation. […]
[…] TRIAL BY CHECKLIST: GRANDPARENT VISITATION […]
[…] The Martin v. Coop factors are here. […]
[…] In order to determine whether visitation rights will serve the child’s best interest, and the extent of the visitation that should be ordered, the court must address the factors set out in Martin v. Coop, 693 So.2d 912, 916 (Miss. 1997), which are set out here. […]