Friday, October 19, 2007

grandparent’s rights in texas

There is probably not a hotter topic than grandparent's rights in Texas. "Rights" typically refers to the right to have access and/or possession of a grandchild. There are scenarios where a grandparent can seek custody of a grandchild, which I may discuss later, but this topic is on visitation.

The issue of visitation with a grandchild typically does not arise in the context of a healthy family relationship, i.e. mom and dad and child together in a loving home. When that family unit is disrupted, either through divorce, separation, or death is when you will typically run into the situation where a grandparent is alienated from their grandchild. It seems the most common these days is the death of one of the parents of the child. You can imagine how difficult these issues become on the grandparents whose child has died and the surviving parent of the child. It seems that the more time that passes, the more difficult the situation becomes as the surviving parent establishes a new life. It seems to me that these are no win situations as both sides have legitimate arguments and everyone is hurting.

I do not recall grandparent rights cases coming up much early on in my career (in the90's). That could be because I was a fledgling attorney who did not attract that type of business, or maybe it is the baby boomer thing. In any case, I know about it now and it is a big topic.

Where things seemed to have really sparked was when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Troxel v. Granville in June 2000. The grandparents in this case were the Troxels. They were the paternal grandparents and their son had died. The surviving parent (Granville) allowed visitation with the Troxels but the visitation was limited. The Troxels wanted more visitation and sued the mother. The statute In Washington that allowed them to sue provided that "any person" could file a suit seeking visitation of a child and the trial court would grant it if it found it was in the best interest of the child. You can see how broad this statute was…any person? The garbage man? This statute was bound to take a fall, which it did. To finish the story, the grandparents got less visitation than they wanted, but more than the mother wanted to give. She (the mother) appealed it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Supreme Court found two problems with the statute as written. First, it in no way took into account the parent's decisions regarding what was best for the child. The only people that were really involved was the person that filed the lawsuit and the judge who imposed what they thought was best. The second problem was that the grandparents had not proven that the mother was unfit. The Court stated that there was a presumption that a fit parent acted in the best interest of their child. The grandparents apparently did not even address this issue, and why would they because the statute did not require it. The second issue, the presumption, is the big one and is the one that has been used throughout the states and is now the standard here in Texas. Ultimately the Supreme Court found the Washington Statute unconstitutional.

Since Troxel was entered, the Texas courts have been scrambling to determine whether our statutes (as they existed then) were constitutional. In every case they found that it was. I will not go into each case here as most are now obsolete with the new statutes that are in place (to be discussed later). The first case to really adopt the "presumption" discussed above was the In Re: Pensom case out of San Antonio decided in 2003. That is the case that we relied upon for years to determine what we had to prove or disprove and now is reflected in the grandparent visitation statute. Over the years, the legislature has been active in the process as well…honing the grandparent statute so that it will comply more closely with the ruling Troxel. I will discuss the current version of the statute in the next post.

You can visit my blog at http://chrislawyerblog.com/grandparents-rights/ for more information about me or to contact me.

The information contained in this blog is provided for informational (and sometimes entertainment) purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter. I can guarantee you that I am not covering every facet of the family code, and there may be hidden gems in the Family Code that could make or break your case based upon your specific fact situation. No recipients of content from this blog, retained client or otherwise, should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included in this blog without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice. ALL CASES ARE DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF THE FACTS PARTICULAR TO YOUR CASE; THEREFORE YOU NEED A LAWYER TO DISCUSS THOSE SPECIFIC FACTS. I expressly disclaim all liability in respect to actions taken or not taken based on any or all of the content of this blog. Talk to a lawyer first, preferably me, it is that simple!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

This post is VERY informative and helpful. Thank you.

Chris Schmiedeke said...

Well thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Very good article, but I am looking for something more about grandparents taking over care of child when parents are unfit. Currently our ex-son-in-law is in prison (yeah!) and our daughter is living with us. She is unstable, irresponsible, screams constantly. We worry about our granddaughter's well-being. We would not mind kicking daughter out of our home, but stay quiet on account of our granddaughter. Very possible that our daughter would use the granddaughter as leverage to get what she wants. HELP!

Anonymous said...

Thought your article was well articulated; not sure it answered my question though. I don't want "custody" of my grandchild, just the ability to visit with the child for a few hours throughout the week. There are court documents specifying the child must remain within a certain Geographical Location and the mother, not my daugther, is wanting to move several counties away against the court order. Since I was named the Petitioner in the court papers as my son was underage, do I have any say in the matter of the child being moved against court documents? (My son is 18 now.)

Chris Schmiedeke said...

I cannot answer that without seeing your order, etc... Try contacting a local lawyer and see if they will give you a free consultation.

Typically a court ordered residency restriction is an enforceable provision regardless of the situation, however some orders have language allowing the custodial parent to move if the non-custodial parent has also moved outside the area. Check your order.

Read this post and any earlier posts as they answer the question of grandparent's rights to visit with the grandchildren in Texas. The posts do not exclusively discuss "custody".

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris,
Your article was very helpful to me. I have been worried about my ex-husband's parents demanding visitation with my daughter who is 10 years old.
My ex-husband is on probation in Williamson County for drug and assault charges. He has not been checking in regularly with his probation officer and is currently employed in Midland county. He refuses to furnish me or the Texas Attorney General with his home address. His behavior has been erratic and I have good reason to believe that he is drinking heavily. His parents live in Lubbock and he visits them frequently. I was allowing my daughter to visit her grandparents in Lubbock, until she came home and described a situation in which she had been riding with them in the car and they were "drinking wine in 7-11 cups" while driving with her and her 16 year-old cousin in the vehicle. They also told her she didn't need her seatbelt while in the back seat. At this time she returned from Lubbock and told me this story, her father had moved and refused to give me his new address. He would only give me a P.O. box. Taking all of this into account, I decided not to let her visit anymore. I worried about her being in a drunk driving accident as well as her father possibly abducting her, since he refused to furnish me with his address.
They have not contacted me or asked for visitation since March of this year, but they know that I don't have very much money. Their son is not paying child support as he should and I am seeking action against him with the Texas Attorney General. I don't know how I could afford an attorney if they decided to bring a case against me. How does that work?

Anonymous said...

My son is in the Navy stationed in another state. His ex-wife lives here and has custody of my grandson. I haven't been able to see him since March of this year during my sons last leave. She won't take my calls or return messages requesting time with my Grandson. With my son stationed so far away my Grandson has no contact with my family. Is there anything that can be done?

Anonymous said...

I have a daughter who is 17yrs old and thinks she is in love with my grandson's father(maybe she is). She was living with me and after the baby was born she decided to move in with him and his family, which I had no problem with! The problem I have is that now his family is "keeping the pot stirred" and she will not let me see my grandson. Can I go to court and get rigths to do so? PLEASE HELP, I MISS HIM !!!

Chris Schmiedeke said...

Anonymous, you need to read my next post on Grandparent Rights in Texas and you will find your answer there. Bottom line, it is very difficult for a grandparent in Texas to force the parents to allow them to see a grandchild.

Read little more in my other posts and visit my quick post on my Facebook page with the new legislation.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chrislawyer/103660687987

Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Chris,
my question is a bit different, i have a 17 year old brother-in-law(will be seventeen in two weeks)his girlfriend (age 15) just gave birth and now the grandma(her mother) wont allow him to visit the baby, she says that she has full custody of the baby because her daughter is a minor, is that possible?

Chris Schmiedeke said...

Anonymous, technically that is correct as she is her daughter's guardian. However, your brother in law also has a guardian who can file a lawsuit to establish rights and duties including visitation and child support.

Contact an attorney and talk to them about filing a voluntary paternity action.

Good luck.

Anonymous said...

I have a strange situation...my son and his wife divorced. He has remarried. The ex-wife has custody and makes accomodations for us to see the grandchildren. The new wife wants to break all ties with the family and has threatened to sue the ex-wife to keep us from seeing the grandchildren. Doesn't the parent with custody have the right to determine who sees the kids when she is in possession of the children? Thanks.

Chris Schmiedeke said...

Anonymous, yes the parent who has custody makes the decision

Anonymous said...

I am puzzled as to what my rights might be as a grandparent my daughter who is 23 left her daughter with m after leaving babys father for two years then got pregnant but a man sentenced to twenty years on drug charges who got out on parole. We refused to accept this man into our family and she took the three year old and the new baby and no longer will allow us to see them is there anything I can do?

Anonymous said...

What do we do when we know that both parents are unfit? They are parents to 4 of our grandchildren. We cannot possibly take custody because the physical and emotional demands are too much. The kids really need help but we don't know what to do.

Anonymous said...

I came across your blog which I realize is several yrs old. If possible, I would like to ask you a question.
My husband filed for divorce Sept of last year. 2 weeks later my son was in an accident and passed away, 2 weeks after that I found out I had breast cancer. Needless to say he had a change of heart. I was never served and there has been no action of any kind on the case. He said he spoke to the attorney, she advised him to leave the case alone for now. When the court will sends a notice of dismal then they will need to file to non suit the case. She also told him it would be cheaper this way. I personally think she doesn't want to close it out because its easy money. She charged him $95 for sending him an email to summarize their ph conversation and another $236 for some other conversation with the head attorney. Not to mention $45 twice a month to check the case for activity.
My overall question to you is
1. how Iong can a divorce in Denton Co just sit open with absolutely no activity?
2. What does does it take to non suit the case yourself?
Thanks