Can grandparents get visitation with their grandkids in California?

What the law says

Family Code section 3104(a): “On petition to the court by a grandparent of a minor child, the court may grant reasonable visitation rights to the grandparent if the court does both of the following: (1) Finds that there is a preexisting relationship between the grandparent and the grandchild that has engendered a bond such that visitation is in the best interest of the child. (2) Balances the interest of the child in having visitation with the grandparent against the right of the parents to exercise their parental authority.”

Section 3104(b) says a petition “shall not be filed while the natural or adoptive parents are married,” unless the parents live apart permanently or indefinitely, one parent has been absent more than a month with whereabouts unknown, one parent joins the petition, the child lives with neither parent, a stepparent has adopted the child, or a parent is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized.

Section 3104(e): “There is a rebuttable presumption that the visitation of a grandparent is not in the best interest of a minor child if the natural or adoptive parents agree that the grandparent should not be granted visitation rights.” Under section 3104(f), a similar presumption applies when the parent awarded sole legal and physical custody in another proceeding, or the parent the child lives with if there is no custody order, objects.

Two other sections cover narrower cases. Section 3103(a) lets the court grant a grandparent reasonable visitation within a divorce, legal separation, parentage, or other proceeding listed in section 3021, if it determines that visitation is in the child’s best interest, and section 3103(d) applies the same presumption when the child’s parents agree the grandparent should not have visitation. Section 3102(a) covers the parents and other relatives of a parent who has died.

• Family Code section 3104 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)
• Family Code section 3103 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)
• Family Code section 3102 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)
• Family Code section 3021 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)

What to do next

If the parents already have a family law case, California Rules of Court, rule 5.24(c)(2) lets a person who claims visitation rights apply to be joined in it with a Notice of Motion and Declaration for Joinder (form FL-371), and rule 5.24(e)(1)(B) requires the court to take the steps in section 3104(a) before joining a grandparent. A petition under section 3104 must be personally served on each parent, any stepparent, and anyone with physical custody of the child (section 3104(c)).

• California Rules of Court, rule 5.24 (courts.ca.gov)
• Form FL-371, Notice of Motion and Declaration for Joinder, Rev. January 1, 2003 (PDF)
• Can an aunt or uncle get visitation rights in California?
• Parents’ rights in a California custody case