SHOW US OUR GRANDKIDS!

NJ couple suing son-in-law

They tragically lost their daughter last year — and now a grieving New Jersey couple is fighting for the right to visit their granddaughters.

Melissa Garville died of an apparent pulmonary embolism on Thanksgiving Day 2020 at age 39.

Garville, head of corporate communications at the Manhattan investment firm BlackRock, left behind her husband of five years, David Mazza, 39, and their daughters — Olivia, 5 and Samantha, 4 — as well as her parents, Gregory and Christine Garville.

An online obituary recalled Melissa and David’s travels together and called them “the perfect complements.”

Images posted with the tribute showed Melissa celebrating weddings, meals out, Christmas with her kids, and other family festivities with Gregory and Christine.

The grandparents rented a neighboring Battery Park City apartment so they could babysit, according to their Manhattan Supreme Court filing.

But after Melissa’s death, Mazza “began making it increasingly challenging for [the Garvilles] to have visitation with the children,” they charge in legal papers.

In September, Mazza told the Garvilles that he had found new love and was taking the kids to California.

“Not a day goes by without me thinking about Melissa,” he wrote in a message included in the court filing. “In this time of pain, I had something beautiful come to me at the same time.”

He said that he had “reconnected” with a coworker whose daughter was close in age to his own kids and that “she and I made the decision to be together and start a blended family in Los Angeles where they currently live.”

“This is best for us, so we can all be happy and healthy,” he wrote. “While we may be moving, I do not intend to stop FaceTime and there will be special visits.”

But the Garvilles say Mazza “has not responded meaningfully” to their requests for visits and want a judge to intervene.

“After the terrible and sudden loss of their mother, we are concerned that the children would likely experience a second traumatic sense of abandonment if they are not allowed to maintain a regular relationship with us,” they said in court papers.

It was unclear when the couple last saw their grandchildren in person.

The grandparents want a judge to appoint a lawyer for Olivia and Samantha and grant them at least three weekend visits per year along with extended visits in the summer.

Mazza said he “had no knowledge of the existence of a lawsuit. He called the situation “deeply personal” and declined to comment further.