Understanding Grandparents’ Rights in Texas
In Texas, the courts are well aware of the joy a grandparent can bring to their grandchild’s life. For this reason, grandparent rights for visitation and custody are well established. If you are a grandparent who is wanting to have more interaction with your grandchild, here’s what you need to know about grandparents’ rights in Texas.
Your Right to Visitation
As a grandparent, you can petition the court to establish visitation rights with your grandchild. In order to receive visitation rights to your grandchild, you must prove that your grandchild’s relationship with you positively impacts your grandchild, and without that relationship, your grandchild’s physical and emotional health will be impaired.
In fact, grandparents who are most likely to be awarded visitation rights:
- Can prove a lack of relationship with their grandchild would harm the child’s physical health or emotional well-being,
- Request visitation when at least one biological or adoptive parent has custody of the child, and
- Are the parent of the child’s parent who has been incarcerated, died, been declared mentally incompetent, or been denied visitation of the child.
In order to be granted visitation, it’s important that you qualify under all three categories. For example, in one case, a grandparent cared for their grandchild while the child’s mother was dying. When she passed away, the father refused to allow the grandparent visitation rights. The court heavily weighed the grandparent’s request for visitation rights. However, because there was no proof that the grandchild would suffer physically or emotionally from the lack of a relationship with the grandparent, the court ultimately chose to honor the father’s wishes and did not grant the request for visitation.
Your Right to Custody
As much as the state of Texas loves healthy grandparent/grandchild relationships, they still hold the most value in the parent/child relationship. This means that courts are highly unlikely to separate a child from his or her parent. In fact, unless you can prove a parent is unable to meet the child’s basic physical and emotional needs, grandparent custody will not happen.
Ultimately, the state of Texas wants what’s best for your grandchild. It’s up to you to prove that a relationship with you is what your grandchild needs.
Do you miss your grandchild?
If you miss your grandchild and are not getting to spend enough time with him or her, The Alsandor Law Firm can help. Our highly-qualified family law attorneys are here to answer any questions you may have and help you fight for your rights as a grandparent. We are here to answer any questions you may have and help you decide how to proceed. For aggressive representation to enjoy your grandparent rights, give us a call at (713) 600-1236 or contact us online.