I was listening to the gang at The Kane Show on the radio as I drove to work. They were talking about a Mother-in-Law Prenup. A Mother-in-Law Prenup is an agreement signed before marriage to ensure grandparent visitation rights if one of the spouses dies or divorces.
You could also have a post-nuptial agreement, and it could be a Father-in-Law agreement. Or you could have a Grandparent’s Agreement even if the parents are not married.
While the parties may abide by the agreement, it may be unenforceable if they do not. The courts have the power to decide what visitation is in the best interests of the child. And the US Supreme Court decided in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), that a parent’s visitation schedule is presumptuously better for the child than a grandparent’s visitation schedule.
The grandparents can overcome the presumption but it’s not easy to do. On the other hand, the parent will have to be prepared to explain why they thought the grandparent visitation schedule was in the child’s best interest when they signed the agreement and why they do not think so now.