Grandparents in private law children proceedings: is hostility a bar to contact?

Beth Hibbert 1 Garden Court

This article considers private law applications by grandparents to spend time with their grandchildren particularly in cases where there is hostility between the parent with care of the children and the applicant grandparent. While this article focuses predominantly on grandparents the same law and logic will apply to any relative seeking to spend time with a child.

Relationships between a child and their grandparent(s) or other relative(s) can be some of the most meaningful rewarding and nurturing relationships they encounter in their lives. In any case where a grandparent is not permitted to see their grandchild by the child’s parent(s) and they have issued private children proceedings there will inevitably be hostility between the applicant grandparent and the child’s parent.

Though there are cases where obvious safeguarding concerns such as a grandparent’s mental health or substance misuse lead the court to conclude that that contact between a child and their grandparent is not safe the reported cases reveal the most common reason put forward for refusing a grandparent’s application to spend time with their grandchild is hostility between the grandparent and the resident parent. This article considers how the court...

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