Grandparent Access in Maryland After Informal Custody Ends

 Posted on December 12, 2025 in Family Law

Grandparents often step in to help raise their grandchildren through informal "kinship care" arrangements when their own child is in an unstable situation. This arrangement can last a few months or even years, but there are rarely court orders or guardianship papers to make it legal. It is simply family members helping loved ones. But what happens when a parent later decides to reclaim full custody or restrict contact?

The grandparents who provided daily care are suddenly shut out. Do grandparents who have provided substantial – but informal – kinship care have any legal right to visitation? In Maryland, pursuing court-ordered visitation after informal kinship care is possible, but the legal bar may be considerably higher than most grandparents realize. In fact, Maryland law provides grandparents with a very narrow path to court-ordered visitation.

If you are a grandparent who assumes years of hands-on caregiving will automatically translate into visitation rights when the parent ends the relationship, you should have realistic expectations. Consulting with a knowledgeable Anne Arundel County, MD family law attorney can help you understand the reality of the situation.

Maryland’s Two-Step Framework for Grandparent Visitation

There has been a significant increase in informal kinship care due to COVID, job losses, illnesses, and substance abuse treatments. Parents who regain stability often seek to resume sole care of their child. In other situations, a breakdown in family relationships can lead to a sudden halt to grandparent kinship care. The grandparents are rightfully upset when they no longer see the children they helped raise, but the parents may be ready to take back the primary parenting role. Maryland courts follow a strict hierarchy:

• There is a presumption of parental autonomy, meaning parents have a fundamental right to decide who may see their children. The parents’ decision is presumed correct unless proven otherwise.
• Grandparents who seek visitation must prove one of two things: either parental unfitness or exceptional circumstances, meaning denial of visitation would cause significant harm to the child.

How Does Informal Kinship Care Create Complexities in the System?

Unlike formal guardianship or custody orders, informal kinship care lacks legal recognition of grandparents’ roles, defined rights to decision-making, and court-recognized visitation (Family Law Section 9-101) schedules. Kinship care also lacks protections against the abrupt termination of contact between grandparents and grandchildren. Maryland courts will operate on the principle that the parent never legally ceded any rights, even if the grandparents handled day-to-day care for a significant period of time.

Can Grandparents Ever Meet Maryland’s High Burden?

Grandparents who seek visitation after kinship care would have to show that the child lived with them for an extended period of time, providing education, healthcare, meals, clothing, and transportation. The grandparents would be required to show that they served as the child's primary emotional support and were the child’s default caregivers during his or her formative years. The grandparents would have to meet the "exceptional circumstances" test by showing that the child will suffer harm if visitation stops.

Harm could potentially be shown in abrupt detachment after a long-term caregiver history, teachers or doctors noting regression or behavioral changes when visitation is stopped, or in child counseling records. Proving parental unfitness is very difficult unless the parent has a serious, active substance abuse issue, a mental health instability, or is unable to meet the child’s basic care needs. It should be noted that judges care only about the child’s best interests and any potential harm to the child, and care very little about adult disappointment.

Contact a Baltimore, MD Child Custody Lawyer

If an informal kinship care arrangement has ended and you are being cut off from the grandchild you helped raise, your emotions about the situation are normal, but there is a very high bar under Maryland’s visitation laws. An Anne Arundel County, MD family law attorney can help you determine whether you have a case for visitation. Our attorneys have strong community ties and are lifelong residents of Montgomery County. We answer calls personally and are very hands-on. To schedule your initial attorney consultation, call 301-560-2685. Se Habla Español. אנחנו מדברים .עברית