Great-Grandparents Also Have Grandparent Visitation Rights in Tennessee

Tennessee law case summary on great-grandparent visitation rights in family law from the Court of Appeals.

In re: Dayton R. – Tennessee divorce grandparents’ visitation

The issue in this Tennessee grandparent visitation case was whether great-grandparents qualify as “grandparents” under the Tennessee grandparent visitation statute.  The children were born in 2003 and 2006 and were adjudicated as dependent and neglected in 2007.  The biological great-grandparents were awarded temporary custody and resided with them for six years.  In 2014, the biological parents petitioned for and were awarded custody.

The great-grandparents then filed a petition for grandparent visitation, but the parents opposed it.  The mother argued that the great-grandparents lacked standing under the Tennessee grandparent visitation statute.  The trial court agreed and dismissed the great-grandparents’ petition.  They then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court noted that all fifty states have some sort of grandparent visitation statute, and there are a variety of definitions of “grandparent.”  Therefore, some of the out-of-state cases addressing the issue were not on point.  It noted that the Tennessee statute does not define the word “grandparent,” but states that the term “includes, but is not limited to” a biological grandparent or spouse of a biological grandparent.  The appeals court ruled that by using this language, the legislature intended to not limit the definition.

For this reason, the court quickly concluded that a great-grandparent was included within the definition, and held that the great-grandparents had standing to bring the case.

Since the merits of the case had not been decided, the appeals court expressed no opinion as to the final outcome of the case.  But it held that the dismissal was improper, since the great-grandparents had standing to bring the case.  Therefore, it reversed the dismissal and remanded the case to the lower court.

No. W2014-01904-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 21, 2015).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Tennessee Grandparent Visitation Rights Law.