Grandparent Visitation Petition

GRANDPARENT VISITATION PETITION — JURISDICTION ROUTING PACKET

Do not file this packet. It contains no universal petition language, court caption, deadline, verification, service instruction, or legal standard. Use it to collect facts and route the matter to the current official form and law of the selected jurisdiction.

1. JURISDICTION AND CASE ROUTING

Stop Conditions

Do not draft or file until counsel resolves every selected item:

• ☐ The correct jurisdiction or court is uncertain.
• ☐ The child or a parent recently moved across state, territorial, tribal, or national lines.
• ☐ Another custody, adoption, guardianship, protection, or juvenile proceeding exists.
• ☐ A parent, child, custodian, or proposed petitioner is deceased, missing, incarcerated, deployed, or subject to a protective order.
• ☐ Parentage, adoption, or termination of parental rights affects the claimed relationship.
• ☐ The child may face immediate safety, abuse, neglect, abduction, or retaliation concerns.
• ☐ A filing deadline, response deadline, hearing date, or service deadline may apply.

Escalated to: [ATTORNEY / COURT SELF-HELP / OTHER]

Resolution: [________________________________]

2. PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS

Proposed Petitioner

Child

Parents, Guardians, Custodians, and Other Required Parties

3. STANDING RESEARCH WORKSHEET

Counsel must identify the exact current jurisdictional route before selecting any fact as legally sufficient.

Standing conclusion by counsel: [ELIGIBLE / NOT ELIGIBLE / MORE FACTS NEEDED]

Reason and citations: [________________________________]

4. FACT DEVELOPMENT

History of the Relationship

Record dates and examples rather than conclusions:

• Contact frequency and duration: [________________________________]
• Periods when the child lived with or was regularly cared for by the proposed petitioner: [________________________________]
• Activities, holidays, school events, medical support, transportation, or caregiving: [________________________________]
• Communications, photographs, calendars, receipts, or witnesses: [________________________________]
• Changes in contact and the date of each change: [________________________________]

Parent or Custodian Decision

• Decision communicated: [________________________________]
• Date and method: [________________________________]
• Reasons stated, if any: [________________________________]
• Proposed petitioner's response: [________________________________]
• Attempts to resolve without filing: [________________________________]
• Safety, boundary, or conflict concerns raised by any person: [________________________________]

Child-Specific Information

• Age and developmental needs: [________________________________]
• Schedule, school, activities, healthcare, and transportation: [________________________________]
• Existing relationships and household routines: [________________________________]
• Any lawful method for presenting the child's views identified by counsel: [________________________________]

Do not ask a child to prepare a statement, choose sides, conceal communications, or participate in litigation without counsel's direction.

5. PROPOSED CONTACT PLAN

Complete only after counsel confirms that requesting contact is legally and factually appropriate.

Avoid boilerplate holiday schedules or open-ended “reasonable visitation.” The requested order must be tailored to the selected jurisdiction and the child's actual circumstances.

6. DOCUMENT AND EVIDENCE INVENTORY

• ☐ Birth, adoption, marriage, death, parentage, or relationship documents relevant to standing
• ☐ Existing custody, divorce, guardianship, protection, adoption, or juvenile orders
• ☐ Residence history and address records
• ☐ Calendars or logs of contact and caregiving
• ☐ Communications concerning contact or denial
• ☐ School, activity, transportation, or expense records lawfully available to the proposed petitioner
• ☐ Photographs or other relationship evidence
• ☐ Witness names and firsthand knowledge
• ☐ Safety, criminal, protective-order, or child-welfare records identified for counsel
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Preserve original metadata and do not obtain, disclose, or file confidential records without lawful authority and counsel review.

7. OPERATIVE PLEADING HANDOFF

Before converting this packet into a filing, counsel must complete and verify:

• ☐ Current official form and local pleading rules
• ☐ Court, division, caption, case number, and filing route
• ☐ Standing allegations and every required element
• ☐ Jurisdiction, venue, and related-case disclosures
• ☐ Required affidavits, notices, confidential-information sheets, and proposed orders
• ☐ Verification, declaration, oath, or notarization requirements
• ☐ Filing fee or fee-waiver route
• ☐ Issuance and method of service for every required party
• ☐ Response, hearing, mediation, and evidence deadlines
• ☐ Relief the court may lawfully grant
• ☐ Redaction and sealed-filing requirements

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

No universal statutory authority is listed. Insert only current official authority and forms for the selected jurisdiction after counsel review.

Verified on August 15, 2026 as a non-operative, jurisdiction-routing packet containing no fixed jurisdictional deadline, standing rule, burden, service method, court, or filing instruction.