Grandparents Entitled to Presumption of Harm When Mom Died

Grandparent Visitation Rights

Tennessee grandparent visitation case summary.

Jeanie Morgan Beltz et al. v. Brett Anthony Heffner

The mother in this Jefferson County, Tennessee, grandparent visitation case died eight days after the birth of the child.  The mother’s parents visited the child at the father’s house twice a week and sometimes on the weekends.  However, about two months later, disputes arose over the visitation and over the proceeds of the mother’s life insurance policy.  The father then cut off the grandparents’ contact with the child.

The grandparents then filed a petition for grandparent visitation.  While the petition was pending, the father allowed the grandparents to visit an hour and a half per month.  The father filed a motion for summary judgment, and the case was heard by Judge Rex H. Ogle.  The trial court ruled in the father’s favor.  It held that the Tennessee grandparent visitation statute was not applicable because the grandparents had not yet formed a significant relationship with the child.  The grandparents then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

After stating the standard of review, the appeals court turned to the grandparent visitation statute and noted that the grandparents must establish four elements to prevail.  First, there must be a severe reduction or opposition to visitation.  Second, the case must fall under one of six circumstances listed in the statute.  Third, there must be a danger of substantial harm to the child.  Finally, visitation must be in the child’s best interests.

In this case, the trial court found that the third element was not met:  It held that there was no danger of substantial harm.  However, the appeals court quickly pointed out that the trial court had overlooked one provision of the statute:   There is a rebuttable presumption of substantial harm if the child’s parent is deceased and that parent’s parents are the petitioner.  Since that provision applied in this case, the appeals court held that the trial court should have applied this presumption.  In particular, it noted that in such cases, the grandparent is not required to show a significant prior relationship with the child.

The appeals court held that this presumption was enough for the grandparents to prevail against a summary judgment motion.  For that reason, the appeals court held that summary judgment was not appropriate in the case.  Instead, the parties should have been allowed to present evidence supporting their conflicting claims.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s judgment and remanded the case.  It also assessed the costs of the appeal against the father.

No. E2018-01962-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 30, 2019).

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.