Grandparent Rights Indiana

Hello, so I am here in great distress. I have a 3 year old son and his father passed away last month. We were married for half his life and separated with a custody agreement for half. My ex husband was very physically abusive to me and life was hell living there.

Now that he's passed his mother is seeking grandparent rights. I understand when one parent has passed it is more likely they will be granted something.

However, my ex mother in law has a long history of drug use, alcohol use, and violence. She has arrests from before I was born all the way to after my son was born. The most recent one I know of is from 2022.

She claims to have had a close relationship with my son but she also had not seen him in person for 2 years (I have a screenshot of her Facebook post stating so) she rarely came to town or called when I was married to her son. She claims to have had 30-40 minute phone calls with my son on his father's weekends which was 2 times a month.

I have messages of her threatening me in the past, and Facebook posts of when she attempted suicide by pills. She said she took a bunch of pills and "hopes it'll all be over soon" and stayed in the hospital for a while. She attempted 3 times while I was married to my ex husband. Even with her underage daughter in the home. I have messages saying so from her eldest daughter.

Also I have messages from her son saying "I was a better kid before she abandoned me" and she had offered to buy us a house and I have messages of him refusing because she'd get drunk and rage at us and say it's her house she can do what she wants.

She is all around very very unstable but she also lives in another state! I do not know what kind of visitation she is seeking but she has not taken up my offers to meet her in public to see my son, she just went ahead and filed for grandparent rights.

I have gathered many many things to help my case and I am retaining a lawyer next week.