GRANDPARENTS’ RIGHTS

GRANDPARENTS’ RIGHTS

Thomas W. Crockett

As difficult as it is to believe, baby boomers have entered and continue to enter in droves that exalted, privileged and sometimes heartbreaking status of grandparents. As long as the intra-family relationships between the in-laws, step-families and other combinations resulting from our complex society, ripe as it is with divorces, remarriages and other disruptions, remain healthy, grandparents can have a fulfilling and loving relationship with the grandchildren, and become a part of the extended family that all children need so much in these turbulent times.

Things do go wrong, however, and the closest of relationships can be disrupted by the divorce or death of one of the parents, leaving the grandparents to deal with the son or daughter-in-law, who may have (and sometimes with good reason) become hostile to the grandparents and takes out this hostility by denying the grandparents visitation. Sometimes, even if the marriage is intact, both parents may unite against the grandparents to deny visitation.

When the relationship between the grandparents and the parent or parents has become so hostile as to be irreparable, grandparents need to know what legal rights they have to require the custodial parent or parents to allow them visitation. The Mississippi statute grants grandparents the right to petition the court for visitation rights in two circumstances:

First, if a parent dies, or loses custody or parental rights, then that parent’s parents have the right to petition the chancery court for visitation rights.

Second, any grandparent who is not entitled to petition under the above facts may petition for visitation if the grandparent has established a viable relationship with the child (which means a relationship in which the grandparent has voluntarily and in good faith supported the child financially in whole or in part for not less than six months), or had frequent visitation including overnight visitation for a period of not less than one year.

Although the grandparents have the right to petition, the visitation is still subject to certain restrictions, the most important of which is that the visitation is in the child’s best interest.

Assuming that the court finds that the visitation is in the child’s best interest, the additional factors the court will consider in determining the grandparents’ rights are:

(1) amount of disruption visitation will have on grandchild’s life,

(2) suitability of grandparents’ home with respect to amount of supervision,

(3) age of grandchild,

(4) age and physical and mental health of grandparents,

(5) emotional ties between grandparents and grandchild,

(6) moral fitness of grandparents

(7) distance of grandparents’ home from child’s home;

(8) any undermining of parent’s general discipline of grandchild,

(9) employment of grandparents, and

(10) willingness of grandparents to accept that the rearing of the child is the parents’ responsibility and that the parents’ manner of child rearing is not to be interfered with.

Although these rights are there to be used in extreme cases, the enforcement of them is costly in time and money, disruptive of relationships, and uncertain of outcome. Avoid the need to do so by respecting, understanding, and even tolerating the parents – both of them – as they muddle through the difficult job of rearing children. In short, grandparents’ legal rights are like good credit; they should be used only when absolutely necessary.

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Thomas W. Crockett is a shareholder in Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis, P. A., which has offices at 190 E. Capitol Street, Suite 800, Jackson, MS 39205-0427; One Hancock Plaza, 2510 14^th Street, Suite 1010, P. O. Drawer 160, Gulfport, MS 39502; and 8925 East Goodman Road, P. O. Box 1456, Olive Branch, MS 38654; tcrockett@watkinsludlam.com

SURVIVING AND PERHAPS THRIVING DURING RECESSIONS

SURVIVING AND PERHAPS THRIVING DURING RECESSIONS

by Frank Givens

If you haven’t heard about the economy, the recession, the stock market, the stimulus plan then you must be hiding under a rock.

Most financial experts agree that we haven’t hit the bottom of this and it will likely take years for our economy to be back to pre-recession levels.

I have seen some organizations that have not only survived but done well during the last two recessions. There are several common characteristics shared by these companies before, during and after the recession.

So what did they do? They didn’t get sick and go to bed; they didn’t roll over and die. They did more than “make do” and they continued to succeed during a recession.

They all had a strong strategic vision and knew who they were before, during and after the crisis. Before it began they controlled costs and established a rainy day fund which they then used during the crisis. They continued to advertise, reduced costs without long-term damage to business and they figured out ways of growing new revenue.

These same basic ideas can be applied to the family. Communicate with your family—be honest about your financial situation. If you don’t have a rainy day fund, start one. Savings accounts are free and usually require just a small deposit to activate.

Let your teenagers get a job to pay for their own spending money. If you’re eating out every night learn how to cook. There’s a reason that the “greatest generation” grew up during the Great Depression.

When my daughters were little one of their favorite books to have read aloud was the Laura Ingles Wilder series. As Pa used say, “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” He was talking about not falling in a well, but the same is true for your long-term and short-term financial goals.

Today, yes, the economy is bad. History tells us that eventually the economy will turn around. Hopefully, the young people witnessing this today will make better choices about spending and saving in the future because of what has happened.

Frank Givens, CPA, is a registered representative with and securities are offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Frank can be reached at frank.givens@lpl.com. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

Local Jewelry Artisan Lil McKinnon-Hicks Named to Southern Arts Federation

Local Jewelry Artisan Lil McKinnon-Hicks Named to Southern Arts Federation

Jackson, MS … Lil McKinnon-Hicks, a local jewelry artisan, was one of only 23 Mississippians designated as a master artist by the Southern Arts Federation and named recently to the organization’s adjudicated registry: www.SouthernArtistry.org.

Nominated by the Mississippi Arts Commission, McKinnon-Hicks is one of approximately 300 visual artists, authors, designers, performers, film-makers and arts educators across the entire Southern U.S. (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) who were admitted to the registry during the current year.

McKinnon-Hicks, whose work in sterling, gold and enamel is marketed as ‘Lil McKH Jewelry,’ maintains a private studio at 200 Commerce Street, located above Hal & Mal’s Restaurant in downtown Jackson.

McKinnon-Hicks’ jewelry designs are available at her studio (open Tuesday – Thursday and by appointment, 601-259-6461) as well as through Nils & Angela’s Gallery Jewelers, Mississippi Museum of Art, Mississippi History Store and the SPA at St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson.

Her work is also displayed and sold through the Mississippi Crafts Center in Ridgeland; P is for Primitive in Canton; The Attic Gallery in Vicksburg; The A Gallery in Hattiesburg; National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN; Gallery Janjobe in Lexington, KY; Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in Cedar Rapids, IA, and online at www.LilMcKHJewelry.com.

Lil McKinnon-Hicks is an exhibiting member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, as well as a member of the Florida Society of Goldsmiths, the Mississippi Gem & Mineral Society, the Eastern Federation of Mineralogical & Lapidary Societies and the Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies. She is a member of the Mississippi Forge Council, Ethical Metalsmiths and the Precious Metal Clay Guild.

The Southern Arts Federation, a non-profit organization founded in 1975, creates partnerships and collaborations; assists in the development of artists, arts professionals and arts organizations; presents, promotes and produces Southern arts and cultural programming; and advocates for the arts and arts education. The organization is funded through the National Endowment for the Arts.

SouthernArtistry.org is an online registry dedicated to showcasing the lives and work of outstanding visual artists, writers, performers, filmmakers and arts educators who are living and working in the South. Each artist on the registry has been nominated by one of nine state arts agencies based on the quality of their work.

Pictured: Lil McKinnon-Hicks, a Mississippi jewelry artist who produces work under the name of Lil McKH Jewelry, at work in her downtown Jackson studio.