In Texas, grandparents have limited legal rights to visit with or raise their grandchildren. Unfortunately, grandparents often have to go to court if they want conservatorship of their grandchildren, or even visitation rights. Texas law gives the parents of children superior rights to other persons absent a compelling reason.
Custody is typically called managing conservatorship. You can seek managing conservatorship of a child either by filing your own lawsuit or by joining an existing lawsuit regarding the child in any of the following circumstances:
The 90-day requirement ensures that the six months your grandchild spent with you happened recently, and not a decade ago when your nearly-grown grandchild was just a little baby. You may have unique facts that will justify a court giving you grandparent rights, so always check with a lawyer. Do not base your decision just on what you read on the internet websites. Every case is different and your lawyer might know of changes in the law or different circumstances that might allow possession of a grandchild.
Grandparents do not have an independent right to spend time with their grandchildren unless they meet rather strict and difficult requirements. The law makes no automatic provisions for the grandparents of children whose parents have divorced or separated to have access to their grandchildren. To get visitation rights, you may file a lawsuit or join an existing lawsuit regarding your grandchild if all three of the following statements apply:
Additionally, one of the following four criteria must be met:
Help with your divorce, child custody, or other family law issue is only a call away. Contact Robert Reid McInvale toll-free at 833-884-3087, or complete our online contact form.