Should aunts and uncles have legal rights?

There's nothing you can do. I would be heartbroken if this happened with my niece, as well, but you have no legal rights with those children. They are not yours, and if the mother doesn't allow you to visit them, then there's nothing you can do about it. She is your only way to them, unless your brother gets any weekend visitations, etc. If he does, set up times with him that you can come visit them. Otherwise, you're just stuck in a sucky situation.

No, I don't think aunts and uncles should have legal rights. It's unfortunate that in some situtations aunts and uncles don't get to see their neices and nephews - but I think that only the parents (or legal assigned gardians) should have legal rights over their children. Expanding legal rights to include other family members would just overcomplicate some situations. How can a parent be completely responsible for their child if someone else has legal rights?

Somehow I wouldn't think so, this is the sad part of when people break from a relationship, it affects many lives, it is sad though that people in doing what they do end up hurting the children as well, it is a very selfish attitude on her part...I wish you well that something will work out for you, think positive it may.

I'm fairly certain that you could seek access via the legal system, but sometimes I think that this causes more harm than good. Try writing a letter to your former sister in law and explaining that you love your nieces, and would like to be a part of their lives. Explain that you would be happy to come to an arrangment that suits you both, for example meeting at a public place to spend time with them like a park, or organising for a mutual friend/ relative to drop them off/ pick them up. Temporarily this may give things time to settle. Things always get said when emotions are running rampant... Keep copies of any sort of correspondence- emails, letters, even notes from phone calls with dates and times, just in case you do need to take the legal avenue. At the end of the day, she's their mum, and although I believe you should be able to see them whenever you want to, at the end of the day it's going to be her decision, so if she is adamant then maybe give her a few days/ weeks to calm down before approaching her again. :) Good luck, I will keep everything crossed for you, I can understand how you would be shattered :S

I agree with everyone else unfortunately. I dont think that you have much legal rights. Won't your brother let you see the kids when he has them? That would be the best bet for you. See the kids while your brother has them. The ex wife cannot stop your brother from seeing his own kids. If she did he could definitely take her to court. Good luck and i hope it all works out for you.

yea u should be able to people need to relize not to put thier childern in line of fire, i mean dont use them to try hurt the other. Can u see them when your brother has them? I have a nepwhew i havent saw i like 7 years and it breaks my heart, i belive family needs to stick togher. That is why when his half brother was taken away also i made she i got him and now he is my son.

I don't know about legal rights because, as other people have said, it could cause more trouble and upset for the kids in particular. I mean, if their parents are already going through a divorce, you wouldn't want to add to that with other legal complications. The ages of your brother's children means they can not make any choice of their own but, assuming there is no reason for your brother not to see his kids, you should still be able to arrange visits with him. It is a difficult situation because people should be more thoughtful of other family members but you can't stop people being selfish but then if more family members were given legal rights, there could end up being more problems. I think the only people who should have legal rights over children are their parents or legal guardians. It is unfortunate that other family members can miss out though. If you have been that close to the children, surely any decent person would allow you to continue seeing them. It will only be the mum who is to blame and the kids will know that. They are the ones missing out on an aunt who obviously loves them very much. I can't say I have personal experience such as yours but I do know someone who has a grandson she has only ever seen twice and hasn't seen since he was a baby. The child's dad (her son) obviously wasn't bothered about being part of his own child's life so the grandparents and other family never had a chance. I think sometimes if the dad doesn't want to know then other family members should be able to have a say. But, I think in situations like yours where the dad is involved and wants to see the kids, you should just sort it out with him and arrange visits. Even if you only get to see them once a month or something, they will thank you for it and you will make the most of that time.

I know you might not like this but the mother does have a right over her kids. But what you can do is maybe meet your nieces when they visit their dad? They are probably too young to be visiting their dad but maybe your brother can make arrangements for you to meet your nieces without their mother being around. If you need to meet them with their mother being around, it is going to be very awkward for the two of you and the kids might understand later on that you two don't get along and it might upset them.

This is a tough one. While I can understand really wanting to keep in touch with your loved ones, making it a legal issue could be very complicated. I mean, the more you institute rights for other family members (aunts and uncles, grandparents, etc), the more you're taking the kids away from the parents in a way. If just anyone who is related to a kid can insist on visitation rights, then there's a point at which it seems all the parents would be doing was trying to find time for them to spend with their child in between all these visitations! I guess unless there were some kind of suspected abuse, I would rather the parents have the right to decide who gets to see their child. In my case, I would never, ever trust any of my family members with my child because they abused me as a child, so I really wouldn't want the government coming in and saying "You have to let them see him." I'm not saying I don't understand your feelings, just trying to take the wider viewpoint here. I actually have a nephew I have never met whom I would really like to see someday. =(

That's tough. I am an aunt myself and I could also say that it would break my heart if I would lose communications with my nieces. Sadly speaking, aunts and uncles would not have legal rights over their nieces and nephews, only unless the parents are really legally irresponsible and incapable of taking care of their kids, that the government would have no choice but to give it to their next of kin or else it would be foster care. You said that the wife cheated on your brother, which is the cause of the divorce. Can that be explored further by your legal counsel? Not really informative on family laws, but could the fact that the wife is unfaithful, can it count? Worse case scenario, you would definitely lose communication with your niece and baby, the real last option really is to try to coax your ex-sister in law to keep the communication lines open. If the worse happens, and you don't have any options, just bear in mind that in the future, they would look for you. I hope it doesn't go this far, my prayers are with you.

That's an interesting question. My brothers wife and I don't get along and my brother and I barely get along anymore as well because of that. So I rarely get to see my nephews unless they're with my parents. So I understand. Unfortunately I don't think anyone has rights to children except their legal guardians or parents. Is your brother going to get to see you nieces? Because I'm sure that if your brother is going to get to see them then you can see them as well. Are they going to do a custody thing or work out visitation and things of that sort? I hope it works out, I'm sorry.