Grandfather Not Entitled to Court-Ordered Visitation

Tennessee grandparent visitation rights case summary.

Dwight Morisch v. Ryann Maenner, et al.

Grandparents must show opposition to visitation.

The paternal grandfather in this Haywood County, Tennessee, grandparent visitation case filed a petition to obtain visitation with his grandchild, who was born out of wedlock in 2011.  At the time, the mother and father were living with the grandfather, but the mother moved out about a year later.  The father and grandson continued living with the grandfather until 2014.  In late 2014, thye father was arrested for drug-related offenses, at which time the mother filed a petition to be named the primary residential parent.  The juvenile court granted this petition in 2015.

In 2019, the grandfather filed the petition for visitation.  There was testimony that the grandfather had exercised visitation a number of times, and the grandfather told her that he had some papers he wanted her to sign, but that she didn’t want to sign them.

After the grandfather testified as to his good relationship with the child, the trial court, Judge J. Roland Reid, granted the petition, allowing the grandfather visitation every other Saturday.  The mother then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court noted that the case was governed by the Tennessee Grandparent Visitation Statute, and that review was de novo, with a presumption of correctness of factual findings.  It noted that the prerequisite for application of the statute was a finding that the custodial parent opposed the visitation, and that there was a severe reduction of visitation time.  It pointed out that without this showing, the trial court would have no basis for making an order.

In this case, the mother testified that she did not oppose the visitation, but that she did not want to sign the legal papers the grandfather had presented to her.  Under these circumstances, the appeals court held that the prerequisite was not met, and it reversed the lower court’s judgment and dismissed the case.

The court’s opinion was penned by Judge Andy D. Bennett, and Judge Kristi M. Davis Joined.

Judge Carma Dennis McGee filed a dissenting opinion.  The dissent pointed out that there had been conflicting evidence about whether the mother had cut off visitation, and given this dispute, the trial court’s ruling should have been upheld.  Judge McGee also pointed to deficiencies in the mother’s appellate brief, and would have deemed some of the issues waived.

No. M2019-01512-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 23,  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.