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An Introduction to the Divorce
Process in Dallas Texas
Separation
Filing for Divorce
Temporary Divorce Orders
Conducting Divorce Discovery
Mediation and Settlement
in the Divorce Process
Collaborative Representation
in the Divorce Process
Divorce Trials In Dallas
Decree of Divorce
Appellate Process in
the Dallas District
Divorce Modification
Paternity
Adoption
Grandparent Access
Child Protective Services
Abuse
Divorcing a US Military
Service Person
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Grandparent Access
Under certain circumstances, a court may grant a
grandparent access to a child without appointing the
grandparent a possessory conservator and even if no managing
conservator has been appointed. The Family Code authorizes
trial courts to issue and enforce orders granting access to
a child to a biological or adoptive grandparent in the
context of a suit affecting the parent-child relationship,
even if the suit was brought for the sole purpose of seeking
grandparental access. An access order may also be entered in
a proceeding for the modification of a previous order.
Moreover, the court may order grandparental access
regardless of whether managing conservatorship is an issue
in the case.
There is a presumption that a fit parent acts in the best
interest of the parent's child. The decision whether a
grandparent-grandchild relationship would be beneficial in
any specific case is for the parent to make in the first
instance. If a fit parent's decision becomes subject to
judicial review, the court must accord at least some special
weight to the parent's own determination in order to protect
the parent's fundamental constitutional right to determine
the rearing of the parent's child. Therefore, a grandparent
seeking access under the Texas Family Code has the burden to
overcome the presumption that a fit parent acts in the best
interest of the parent's child in order to establish the
"best interest of the child" prong of the statute.
The court must issue and enforce orders granting to a
biological or adoptive grandparent reasonable access to the
child if three prerequisites are met. First, a parent of the
child must be, at the time the relief is requested, a
biological or adoptive parent of the child. The phrase ``at
the time the relief is requested'' means the time a petition
is filed requesting access. Second, access to the
grandparent must be in the best interest of the child.
Finally, one of the following conditions must exist:
- The grandparent seeking access is a parent of a
parent of the child, and that parent of the child has
been incarcerated in jail or prison during the
three-month period preceding the filing of the petition
or has been found by a court to be incompetent or is
dead.
- The parents of the child are divorced or have been
living apart for the three-month period preceding the
filing of the petition or a suit for the dissolution of
the parents' marriage is pending.
- The child has been abused or neglected by one of the
child's parents.
- The child has been adjudicated to be in need of
supervision or delinquent under Family Code Title 3.
- The grandparent seeking access is the parent of a
person whose parent-child relationship with the child
has been terminated by court order.
- The child has lived with the grandparent seeking
access for at least six months within the 24-month
period preceding the filing of the petition.
An access order is not available to a grandparent if:
- Each of the biological parents of the grandchild
has:
- Died;
- Had the person's parental rights terminated; or
- Executed an affidavit of waiver of interest in child
or an affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights and
the affidavit designates an authorized agency, licensed
child-placing agency, or person other than the child's
stepparent as the managing conservator of the child; and
- The grandchild has been adopted, or is the subject
of a pending suit for adoption, by a person other than
the child's stepparent.
The statute gives grandparents the right to "reasonable
access" under specified circumstances. The right to
"access" is not the same as the right to "possession". A
person with rights of "access to" children may approach
them, communicate with them, and visit with them, but may
not take possession or control of the children away from the
managing conservator. By contrast, a person with rights to
"possession of" children may exercise possession and
control of the children, to the exclusion of all other
persons, including the managing conservator, during periods
of possession. The statute does not entitle a grandparent to
a standard possession order as to the grandchild because the
standard possession order grants "possession of" rather
than "access to" the child.
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