Grandparents Fail to Get Court-Ordered Visitation When They Fail to Establish that Visitation Had Been Cut Off

Tennessee child custody case summary on grandparent visitation rights.

In re: Trinity P.

Grandparent Visitation Rights in Tennessee

The Tennessee grandparent visitation statute comes into play only if the grandparent first shows that the parent opposed or severely reduced the grandparent’s visitation prior to the filing of a petition.  The applicability of that portion of the statute was at issue in this Marshall County case.

The child in this case was born in 2013, and for the first 18 months of her life lived with the mother and the mother’s parents.   At that time, they moved to Alaska and lived with the father.  During this time, the child visited the grandparents in Tennessee for extended periods.  In 2016, the mother and child returned to Tennessee.  At some point, they became estranged from the father, and his whereabouts were unknown.  At some point, she moved into a camper next to the grandparents’ property with her new boyfriend.  On days when the grandparents were not home, she would sleep at the grandparents’ house.

On Mothers’ Day 2020, an altercation broke out at what the court described as the “family compound.”  The trial court described the complex family arrangements as an “unusual, but seemingly functional family model” until the Mother’s Day incident.  At that point, the mother and daughter moved out and in with the boyfriend into a rental home about 15 miles away from the grandparents.

Tensions remained high, but the mother let the child to stay overnight with the grandparents.  However, after an argument, the mother told her parents that there would be no further visits unless supervised.

Shortly thereafter, about six weeks after the Mothers’ Day incident, the grandparents filed their petition for Grandparent visitation.  The court awarded them grandparent visitation, and the mother appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

On appeal, the mother conceded that the child had a substantial relationship with the grandparents.  But she argued that it was improper to grant the petition, because the threshold issue had not been met:  She argued that there was no evidence that visitation was opposed by her or had been severely reduced.

The appeals court started by noting that under the U.S. Constitution, parents have a fundamental right to raise a child as they see fit.  For that reason, courts are reluctant to interfere, and the statute must be followed in its entirety.

And under the statute, the grandparent bears the burden of proof showing that the threshold condition has been met.  Unless that element is proven, the court has no basis for making any further determinations.

And under precedents, this means that the grandparent must show that there were specific words or deeds in opposition to visitation, and that they were prior to the filing of the petition.  They must show that there is either no contact, or only token visitation.  A mere reduction from what was enjoyed earlier is not sufficient.

In this case, the trial court had not made any findings or conclusions regarding this issue.  And the appellate court’s review of the record found no such evidence.  It held that mere limitations on visitation were insufficient, since this would interfere with the parent’s fundamental right concerning the care and custody of children.  The mother expressed some concerns regarding her limitations, such as in-home drug use by the grandmother, corporal punishment, and the Mother’s Day incident, which had included physical violence.  The appeals court also pointed out that the grandparents didn’t show any evidence that they tried to visit the child before filing the petition.

Since the grandparents had failed to meet this threshold showing, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case, with instructions to dismiss the petition.

NoM2020–01481-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 8,  2021).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Grandparent Visitation Rights Law in Tennessee.

See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.