Grandparents’ Rights Lawyer in Texas

Personalized Grandparents’ Rights Representation Since 2007

When a parent restricts or cuts off contact, grandparents may be unsure whether Texas law allows them to seek time with a grandchild or a larger role in the child’s care. Grandparents can play an important role in a child’s development and help maintain family structure during periods of change.

Texas law recognizes that grandparents can hold meaningful relationships with their grandchildren, but it doesn’t give grandparents an automatic right to court-ordered possession or access. Available remedies depend on separate legal standards: a grandparent’s claim may involve possession and access, managing conservatorship, or both, depending on family circumstances. In either path, a grandparent opposing a parent’s decision faces a statutory parental presumption and a heightened burden of proof.

A search for “grandparents rights attorney Fort Worth” often begins with questions about who can file and what must be proved. At the Law Offices of Mark M. Childress, PLLC, we focus on family law cases and provide direct communication and one-on-one attention to clients. Founded in 2007, our firm prepares each case thoroughly and can take it to court when necessary.

Legal Rights for Grandparents in Texas: Visitation & Access

Grandparents don’t enjoy an absolute right to visitation time with their grandchildren. State law first recognizes the right of parents to make decisions regarding their children, including how much contact with grandparents to allow.

Under Texas Family Code Section 153.433, a grandparent seeking court-ordered possession or access must overcome the presumption that a parent acts in the child’s best interest. To do so, the grandparent must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that denial of possession or access would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional well-being. At least one biological or adoptive parent must still hold parental rights at the time relief is requested.

The statute identifies circumstances involving the child’s parent that are relevant to a grandparent’s claim:

• The parent has been incarcerated during the three months before the petition was filed
• A court has found the parent incompetent
• The parent is deceased
• The parent does not have actual or court-ordered possession or access to the child

Meeting one of these circumstances alone isn’t sufficient. A grandparent filing solely for possession or access must also submit an affidavit setting out supporting facts that allege significant impairment. If the grandparent clears these statutory thresholds, the court then determines whether the requested order is in the best interest of the child.

Securing Custody as a Grandparent in Fort Worth

In some cases, grandparents who have played a significant role in raising their grandchildren may seek legal custody. Grandparent conservatorship is a different remedy from possession and access, and it carries its own standards under the Texas Family Code.

A grandparent may seek managing conservatorship when the child’s present circumstances would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development, or when both parents, the surviving parent, or the managing conservator or custodian consents to the suit. Under Texas Family Code Section 153.131, a parent is generally presumed to be entitled to managing conservatorship unless appointing the parent would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development. Conservatorship, when granted, gives grandparents the right to make important medical, educational, and financial decisions on the grandchild’s behalf.