grandparent rights

[bananas]

Kate has a six year old child.  Kate is engaged to Mike, who is not the biological father of the child.  Mike and Kate have cohabitated for about four years, and Mike is the only father-figure the child has known.

Kate's mother and stepfather babysat the child Saturday for the day, while Kate and Mike were at work.  Through some unknown chain of events, Kate's mother and stepfather called Kate Saturday around 3pm saying they would not return the child to Kate at the agreed-upon time of 4:30.  They also told her not to call police or there would be problems.

Kate called the police anyway and had them meet her at Kate's mother & stepfather's house at 4:30.  The child was returned to Kate when they arrived home around 5pm.  Kate went downtown today (Monday) and filed a civil protection order against her mother and stepfather.  They should be served sometime this week.

Kate was 18 and the biological father was 15 when the child was conceived.  This occurred close to seven years ago and Kate has had no contact with the bio father, who pays no child support.  Now, Kate's mother and stepfather are threatening to get in contact with the bio father and press charges for statutory rape.  They have blackmailed her with this threat in the past.

In Ohio, the best they could hope for is unlawful contact w/minor (M-1), and even then, the charge has to be brought forward within a year of discovery, so in essence they've already lost.  It's unknown if they know that yet, but now Kate's mother and stepfather are calling Mike, also threatening to sue for grandparent rights to visit the six year old.  Kate and Mike never want to see or speak to Kate's mother and stepfather again.  

Kate's mother and stepfather basically have unlimited financial resources.  However, they've had some tax problems so they have some property in another state that's in Kate's name, I guess to hide assets.  They are adept at scamming the system and Kate and Mike are afraid that they might win a case for visitation since they have tons of cash.

There's more to it, but that's about all I know and I think all the relevent stuff is there.  

QUESTIONS:
1.  What kind of case would Kate's mother have in Ohio to get grandparent rights?

2.  Would Kate's stepfather have any grandparent rights at all?

3.  What would be a good defense for Kate to use in court?

4.  Any other evil tactics or suggestions for Kate and Mike?

THANK YOU so much for your input!!

[socrateaser]

>QUESTIONS:
>1.  What kind of case would Kate's mother have in Ohio to get
>grandparent rights?

A grandparent bears the burden of proving that a parent is acting against the child's best interest by terminating or limiting the grandparent's access to the child. On your facts, if the grandparents are proven to have actually refused to return the child to the mother for no apparent reason, they would never be able to meet their burden of proof.

>
>2.  Would Kate's stepfather have any grandparent rights at
>all?

Yes, ANY third party bears the same burden of proof.

>
>3.  What would be a good defense for Kate to use in court?

Defense against what? Statutory rape? If the bio father refuses to cooperate, the DA is not gonna prosecute the case. I wouldn't be real concerned about it, unless you have reason to believe that the bio dad has some unresolved hostility related to the matter.

>
>4.  Any other evil tactics or suggestions for Kate and Mike?

Threatening to report the mother for statutory rape in order to maintain physical custody of the child is probably kidnapping, i.e., preventing the parent from obtaining physical custody over her minor child by threat of force or fear. Tell the gps that you will file a complaint with the DA if they don't calm way down.

It is also the civil tort of false imprisonment, so you can sue the grandparents for the act and get punitive damages.

Finally, if you have title to property in another state, granted you by the gp's then you can sell it, and from what I can see, the gp's would need to sue you and prove that they intended a trust arrangement rather than a gift.

What would the gp's tell the court? "Your honor, we put the property in our daughter's name in order to avoid paying Federal Income taxes?"

I'd need to read a little more about what in the wide wide world a sports is a goin' on here, before I could comment further. You're obviously leaving out some important facts.

[bananas]

Wow, that's fantastic.  I will print this out and let Kate and Mike read it.

My question #3, "What would be a good defense for Kate to use in court"? was in reference to the grandparents getting visitation.  What argument can she use to keep them from getting visitation?  But I think you answered that when you answered #1.

I'm not really sure what in the wide wide world a sports is going on either.  This is just what I know.  I think there is a lot more to the story but I'm not sure exactly what, and I didn't want to make the post longer than it was.  I do know that Kate was physically abused by her mother and stepfather as a child, and as recently as two years ago.  I think Kate is afraid that her mother will abduct the child, because she has threatened to do that, hence the CPO.

If I get more facts, I'll let you know.  This is a perfect start.  THANK YOU SO MUCH for your response!