Grandparents often play major roles in the lives of their grandchildren. Children usually benefit from the love, attention, and care of additional family members, not just their parents, and can form strong attachments to their grandparents, especially. Some grandparents see their grandkids for Sunday dinners, or act as week-day babysitters, or some might even live with their kids and grandkids for a time. In most cases, this involvement is good for the grandchildren, but if the parents become divorced, separated, or if one parent dies, it can significantly alter the time a grandparent gets with the child.

In Tennessee, grandparents may be entitled to certain visitation rights with their grandchildren. If you are a grandparent and you have been prevented from seeing your grandchild, you may be able to take legal action to exercise your rights.

Find out what rights grandparents are entitled to and discover how to exercise those legal privileges for the benefit of your grandchild and yourself.

When Do You Need Grandparent’s Visitation Rights?

Most grandparents are granted access to their grandchildren on a somewhat regular basis for visits and dinners and so on. However, when family dynamics change, sometimes parents may be unwilling to allow the grandparents to continue being involved in their child’s life. If, for example, one parent dies, the other parent may be unwilling to allow the grandparents to continue seeing the child. In such an event, the grandparents may fight for visitation rights in order to continue their relationship with their grandchild.

Tennessee Visitation Laws

In the state of Tennessee, grandparents may be entitled to visitation rights only under certain circumstances. For the Court to grant grandparent visitation, it must be proven that 1) a grandparent is being prohibited from exercising visitation and 2) that the stopping of the visitation is likely to cause harm to the grandchild.

Are you interested in securing visitation rights with your grandchild?Contact Patton | Pittman Attorneys to ask for a free consultation with our Clarksville family attorneys.