With the many changes in family dynamics over the years, a recurring issue for Florida families is the right of grandparents to have timesharing with their grandchildren.

Florida courts have long held that parents have a fundamental right to determine what is the best interest of their children including which family members can have access to their children. Florida courts have routinely struck down the pleas of grandparents seeking access to their grandchildren where there is a parent capable of caring for that child.

Florida law has carved out limited exceptions and provides that a maternal or paternal grandparent as well as a step grandparent is entitled to reasonable visitation with his or her grandchild who has been adjudicated a dependent child and taken from the physical custody of the parent. In such cases, as long as the grandparent is compliant with the other provisions of the statute, such as not violating court orders regarding reuniting the child with a parent, timesharing may be unsupervised and, where appropriate and feasible, frequent and continuing in nature.