TN Appeals Court Can’t Decide Grandparent Visitation Case Without More

Tennessee grandparent visitation rights case summary.

Sven Hadjopoulos, et al., v. Alexandra Sponica, et al.

The child in this Tennessee grandparent visitation case was born in 2006 to an unwed teen mother.  In the child’s early years, she spent time with her maternal grandparents, although the amount of time was disputed.  When the mother and father decided to stop allowing grandparent visitation, the grandparents filed a petition in Greene County.  They alleged that they had been responsible for much of the child’s care and that an end of the relationship would pose a risk of substantial harm to the child.

After hearing testimony, the trial court concluded that the grandparents had been a big part of caring for the child, and that severing the relationship had been on a whim.  The judge further concluded that ending the relationship would give the child to have issues with abandonment or anger.

The trial court ordered a minimum of two visitation sessions per month from 10:00 to 6:00.  The parents then brought an appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The appeals court first turned to the Tennessee Grandparent Visitation Statute, which states the grounds under which a court can grant a grandparent visitation rights.  Among those grounds is a case where there is a risk of substantial harm to the child and whether grandparent visitation would be in the child’s best interests.

Unfortunately, the appeals court was unable to determine from the lower court’s order the exact section of the statute on which the lower court was relying.  This was important because the burden of proof can vary depending on which section applies.  Without this critical piece of information, the appeals court concluded that it was unable to adequately review the case.  Therefore, it had no choice but to send the case back for a clarification of the trial judge’s reasoning.

The appeals court expressed reluctance to do so, because its preference is normally to resolve appeals on their merits.  But in this case, the appeals court felt that it had no choice in the absence of an order specifying the exact grounds under which it ordered visitation.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals vacated the lower court’s decision and remanded the case for further proceedings.

No. E2015-00793-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 28, 2016).

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 actual examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.