5598 AMH WALJ ADAM 293

SB 5598 - H AMD TO JUDI COMM AMD (H-5007.1/18) 1346

By Representative Walsh

SCOPE AND OBJECT 03/02/2018

    On page 1, beginning on line 3 of the striking amendment, strike all of sections 1 and 2 and insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Grandparent" means:

(a) A person who is the parent of a child's father or mother, and who is related to the child by blood, adoption, or marriage including preceding generations as denoted by prefixes of grand, great, or great-great; and

(b) Spouses of any persons named in (a) of this subsection, even after the marriage is terminated.

(2) "Parent" means a legal parent whose rights have not been terminated, relinquished, or declared not to exist.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  (1) A grandparent may petition for visitation with the child if:

(a) The petitioner has an ongoing and substantial relationship with the child;

(b) The petitioner is the child's grandparent; and

(c) The child is likely to suffer harm or a substantial risk of harm if visitation is denied.

(2) A person has established an ongoing and substantial relationship with a child if the person and the child have had a relationship formed and sustained through interaction, companionship, and mutuality of interest and affection, without expectation of financial compensation, with substantial continuity for at least two years unless the child is under the age of two years, in which case there must be substantial continuity for at least half of the child's life, and with a shared expectation of and desire for an ongoing relationship."

EFFECT:   Limits the persons who are allowed to file a petition for court-ordered visitation with a child to the grandparents (rather than relatives) of the child.

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