Can grandparents be joined as parties in a divorce?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Arnink v. Arnink, 1999 CanLII 5326 (BC SC):
The plaintiff relies on the decision in Fisher v. Fisher (1985) 166 A.P.R. 206 (N.S.T.D.) where the court refused to allow grandparents to be joined as parties in divorce proceedings where they were not seeking custody for themselves but wanted to support the application by their son. In rejecting the grandparents' claim, Nathanson J. stated at para.11: It does not follow from the mere existence of doting grandparents that their participation is necessary to ensure full and effectual adjudication. No doubt there are thousands of cases involving grandparents which are adjudicated without their participation. The facts of this case are not much different from many others. The grandparents can be called to give evidence, but it cannot be said that their participation is necessary to ensure a full and effectual adjudication of the matter of custody. That is particularly so where they do not claim custody for themselves.
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