My cousin passed in January...she was 32. She was the custodial parent of her two kids. The father learned her death on Facebook....and this was because they did not get along nor have a healthy relationship. He abused her. Now this was my aunts only child, and even though she's grieving, she's trying to fight a custody battle to get her grandkids. What is the likelihood she will win?
Below are points my family has gone over to fight, and no judge has yet seen the case or fully granted the father to keep them.

1. The guy abused her, she had a restraining order against him.

2. He remarried with other kids of his own ( the step mom doesn't like the kids )
According to my little cousin, he did not want fish so she gave him no food for the day. He's 7. And she tightened my other little cousins hair so much her scalp bled. ( ages 1 and there's pics to prove it.)

3. He will not let my aunt see the kids anymore

4. He tried to claim the kids on his taxes for the WHOLE YEAR....but had them from mid January to now (my aunt called the IRS he has to pay that back...lol)

5. He tried to claim my cousins life insurance ( once again he was caught, my aunt is listed as the number 1 beneficiary ).

6. The 7 year old claims his dad killed his mom and doesn't want to stay with him.
( she has bad asthma and her lungs collapsed. Stress can onset asthma).

I feel this 7 year old has more than enough sense to state his preference ( he's the one who called 911 and the whole family the minute she passes out and laid there dying).

Can a grandparent receive full custody bases on that? He is the biological father and signed the birth certificates. He doesn't respect women and specifically, the women in my family.

A biological parent always has priority when it comes to custody so grandma has a majorily uphill battle.

With regard to your specific points:

1. This is interesting and will cause a judge to look at him carefully but allegations of DV between the parents are not enough to deny a biological parent visitation or custody. If there were allegations that the children were in danger from him, it would be a different story.

2. This is pure hearsay and not especially credible. I am fairly certain the seven year old was NOT offered fish for breakfast. My guess is that fish was offered as the protein for dinner - and when he chose not to eat fish he was not given a substitute. There isn't anything wrong with this. There is no requirement that parents or stepparents serve as short order cooks and children will NEVER refuse to eat to the degree they will starve. With regard to bleeding scalp because the hair was tightened too severely? If this was done for the specific purpose of injuring the baby, it is a problem. But a one time incident? This would be chalked up as an accident.

3. This is sad but irrelevant to the issue of custody.

4. This isn't surprising but it is also completely irrelevant to the issue of custody.

5. This isn't surprising (because if your cousin had listed her children as the beneficiary he likely could have gotten control of the money), and it is completely irrelevant to the issue of custody.

6. This is sad but does NOT help the grandmother. In fact, this could HURT the grandmother because it could mean that the grandmother is attempting to alienating the children from their father. And children who are under the age of 12 have NO voice in custody or visitation - so it is irrelevant that you think he has enough sense to state his preference. The court will not and cannot take his wishes into account.

Nothing you have described give me any confidence that your aunt will win custody. She may be entitled to visitation.

If the father is abusive that is grounds for denying custody. Hire a lawyer so taht he can explain things to you and so that you can build a case against the man.

Hire a Lawer.

Hire a Lawer.

All of those are certainly points that a Children and Protective Services investigator would be interested in hearing if a report was made about the suitability of the father's parenting, but none of that negates his right to his biological children.

I understand that there are other family members with an interest in taking custody of the children, but they would need the kids' father's permission to take the kids. Unless they can mount a successful lawsuit for custody of the kids, the only way to get the kids away from the father is with his permission.

- Stuart