Hello:

There are no automatic rights to access for a grandparent. It is possible to apply for a court order seeking an order or schedule of times. Whether or not this is ordered will depend in each case as to what the court sees is best for the child. Determining the best interests of the child is the overriding issue in all such cases, not determining parent's rights versus grandparent's rights.

Generally if you have been involved the life of the child for many years, and there is no clear risk of your contact with the child, then a court will see it as a positive relationship that is worthwhile to preserve and continue. The court will take into account the reasons that a custodial parent is denying access to a grandparent, but if the court thinks that those are not reasonable, or it is a short-sighted or not well-thought out reason, then the court can overrule the parent's wishes.

Generally, the court does not want to see different applications coming from all sides of the family about children. The main participants in a case about custody and access are the parents, and often a court will say that a grandparent's time to grandchildren will come through their own child, rather than trying to make a separate court order dealing with just the grandparents. Having separate orders would make the matter too complicated. So a court here may not want a separate court application from you or may decline a separate court order dealing with just your access, and instead say that you will be able to have access during your son's time with the child.

Where grandparent's are able to apply to the court and get an order is if their own child is not able or willing to apply to the court, such as being disabled. Or there has been a falling out between the grandparent and child, and so a separate order is needed. As those are not the cases here, there is a good chance a court would decline to make a separate order for your time, and instead just say that you and your son can work out times when he has the children.

You son is certainly able to apply to the court to seek orders to ensure he is getting contact with his daughter. But if he can't or won't take this to court for some reason and so you are caught with not seeing the children, then you could bring your own court application.

You can also try to settle matters with the mother out of court, such as negotiations with her, with or without lawyers, or attending mediation or collaborative law sessions with her. This takes some willingness on her part to meet and try to discuss compromise, and if that is impossible then court is the option.

It is not mandatory for you to have a lawyer for this, but an experienced family law lawyer will be of assistance. We cannot give names of lawyers through this site, but you can contact the Law Society of Upper Canada, which has a free lawyer referral program. You will be given several names of lawyers, and part of the program is that they give you an initial interview at no charge, so you can learn more and decide whether or not you wish to hire any of them, and you are free to hire none of them if you do not want to. The number is XXXXX(NNN) NNN-NNNN or(NNN) NNN-NNNNin the GTA.