I'm hoping I can get some good advice from some of you out there. Here goes.... My 21 year old son has been living with his girlfriend (we'll call "Julie") for 2 ½ years now. In Oct., 2004 they had a little girl named Alannah. Things have been really "Rocky" with them since they moved in together. She comes from a family who has always been in trouble with the law so she claims to know everything, including all legal issues. My son has thought about leaving her a few times, but she just pressures him and he ends up staying. She threatens to take the baby away and tells him he'll never see Alannah again. Well, I know, all he has to do is go to court and get partial custody and that would be taken care of, but getting him to actually believe that I might know something about the law is another thing, lol. A few weeks ago when he was talking about leaving her, I told him to do it if he weren't that happy and go to court and start paying child support until things were figured out. He told Julie that I had said that and now it has come to blows. It's been twisted to "I wanted him to throw her and the baby out on the street!" That's not at all what I was saying. My son called me a few weeks ago and told me that I will not see him or my granddaughter again. I know that Julie told him to choose between her and his mother and he chose her because he is afraid of never seeing his daughter again because for some reason or another he believes everything she says. I can't stand not seeing my granddaughter and I believe I have rights here in Wisconsin. Does anyone know how to go about starting the process to obtain visitation? Any help anyone can give me is greatly appreciated!!:p

Have your son read this thread.

Julie can not keep his daughter from him. She if full of crap. Your assessment (go to court, get partial custody) is absolutely correct.

Ok, legally he can get visitation rights at least , perhaps partial or joint custody, heck he could even try for full custody if he wanted to.
What he gets is up to the judge, but he will get something.

Now she can try not being home, moving and not telling him where she moved, locking the door and not letting him in. Police will not do anything, He would have to take her back to court again, and have the judge rule, order her to, it takes time often to make them inforce the visitation.
Real life answer, not what the law says is suppose to happen.

Some states allow grandparents to sue for visitation rights, not all do.

Take your son to talk to an attorney, most don't charge much for first visit, some allow first visit free just to discuss. That way it is not you, or me, or a unknown online someone saying something.

Thanks so much Captain Forest and Fr. Chuck for the advice... I'm printing this out and giving it to my son... hopefully he takes the advice.

I really think this is sad for all parties involved. I'm in a situation like some of the other grandmothers out there, but I have put foot down and let her know just because her and my son don't get along does not mean I will stand by and not see my grandson. You don't take issues out on the ones that didn't cause the problem and made her aware of fathers rights and grandparent rights. She signed papers in March for visitation whenever he wanted to see him with appropriate notice and I make her follow it also. I know that both my son and I will take her to court over this matter, and besides, the only ones that get hurt are the children. It's like punishing them from being around the other side of the family who also loves them. Shame on selfishness of people that use their babies as some kind of negotiation over visitation.