TN Great Grandparents Received Adequate Visitation

Tennessee grandparent visitation rights case summary.

In re Dayton R., et al.

In 2015, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that great-grandparents were included within the definition of “grandparents” under the Tennessee grandparent visitation statute.  After reaching that conclusion, it sent the case back to the trial court to determine the exact visitation rights that should be granted in the case.  On remand, the trial court awarded the great-grandparents eight hours of visitation per month, plus December 26 of each year, plus four hours on each child’s birthday.  It also ordered the parents not to interfere with routine pre-scheduled activities.

The great-grandparents then brought a second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, arguing that they should have been granted more visitation time.

The appeals court noted that there was only one issue in the case, whether the amount of time granted was an abuse of the trial court’s discretion.  It noted that parents have the fundamental right to raise their children, and the grandparents’ rights come only from the statute, which allows visitation only in certain situations.  The grandparents argued that the amount of time was insufficient under the statute to avoid substantial harm to the child.

The appeals court looked closely at the lower court’s order and determined that the trial judge had adequately balanced the parents’ rights with those of the grandparents under the statute.  One critical item it noted was that it is rarely in the best interest of a child to “have them shuffled back and forth.”  The appeals court was left with the opinion that the trial court’s order had carefully balanced all of the respective factors in making its ruling.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the lower court.

No. W2015-01848-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 7, 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.