Child Custody and Visitation Attorney in Dallas, Texas
Do grandparents have custody or visitation rights?
Do grandparents have custody or visitation rights?
More In This Category
View Transcript
that is a fantastic question when I get
asked a lot in the state of Texas if
you’re a grandparent and you know one of
the parents doesn’t want to let you see
the kids
you are best basically out of luck I
mean there are certain situations where
a grandparent has rights basically when
that comes into play is or where I
should say you see it most often let’s
say that you know there’s a couple and
they’ve got you know 2.5 kids and the
middle kid has two other kids and he’s
married you know he and his wife seem
like they’re just the the fantastic
couple and then it turns out that
they’ve developed you know an alcohol or
drug habit and so these kids are kind of
being left by the wayside that is a
situation where you are going to see the
court intervene and the grandparents
would have the ability to file a suit to
be named sole managing conservators of
their grandchildren that is different
from a grandparents rights case though
okay so as most people think about
grandparents rights they’re thinking
about you know well I had this
relationship with the kids and and now I
really don’t know I really don’t get to
see it much so I’m just going to file a
lawsuit well that might work in a lot of
states but it really doesn’t in Texas
unless you can show that the emotional
needs of those children is is going to
cause all kinds of problems if the
grandparents are basically cut out of
their lives and so that’s a really high
standard to be able to meet and it’s
rare that you can meet that so another
situation where it comes into play is
let’s say if I had a son and that child
that son and his wife had two kids and
then my son died okay if my son died
there might be a way that that I could
you know establish some some right to
some visitation with with the kids but
the presumption throughout the United
States actually this is a United States
Supreme Court case is that parents act
in the best interest of their kids and
so Texas has just taken that beyond
common-law
and is codified it and basically says
you know you don’t have any you know any
special rights being a grandparent in
the state of Texas
Contact Mark Scroggins
Email This Lawyer
(214) 469-3100
See All This Lawyer's Videos
Visit Lawyer's Website
Dallas high-net-worth divorce attorney, Mark Scroggins, talks about whether or not grandparents get custody or visitation rights in a child custody case. He states that in Texas, grandparent visitation rights are extremely limited. If a parent does not want the grandparents to see the children, the grandparents are generally out of luck. There are only a few narrow circumstances where a court might intervene.
One common scenario is when a parent or parents develop serious issues—such as drug or alcohol problems—that negatively affect the children’s welfare. In such cases, grandparents may petition the court to be named sole managing conservators of their grandchildren. This is different from a typical “grandparents’ rights” case, which most people assume allows visitation simply because of a prior relationship with the grandchildren. In Texas, the court requires proof that denying access would seriously harm the children’s emotional well-being—a very high standard that is rarely met.
Another circumstance where grandparents might gain visitation is if a parent dies, leaving minor children. Even then, the law presumes that surviving parents act in the best interest of their children, consistent with a United States Supreme Court precedent. Texas codifies this principle, making it clear that being a grandparent alone does not create any automatic legal rights to visitation.
