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| | Right to Bring Independent Petition for Access to Child |
A biological or adoptive grandparent may request access to a grandchild by filing:
- An original suit; or
- A suit for modification.
Standards for granting access.
The court is required to order reasonable access to a grandchild by a grandparent if :
A. At the time the relief is requested, at least one biological or adoptive parent of the child has not had that parent's parental rights terminated; and
B. Access is in the best interests of the child, and at least one of the following facts is present:
- The grandparent seeking access to the child is a parent of a parent of the child and the parent through whom the grandparent is related to 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 a parent of the child.
- The child has been adjudicated to be either a child in need of supervision or a delinquent child under Family Code Title 3.
- The grandparent seeking access to the child is the parent of a person whose parent-child relationship with the child has been terminated by court decree.
- The child has resided with the grandparent seeking access to the child for at least six months within the 24-month period preceding the filing of the petition.
Limitations.
An order granting reasonable access 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.
If you need to obtain the services of an attorney to assist you in obtaining grandparent access and are interested to see what kind of services we have available for you to use, click
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