Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-6-306, grandparents are able to seek visitation rights in specific situations in which the custodial parents have eliminated or have severely reduced their visitation. These situations include:
The father or mother of the child is deceased
The parents of the child are divorced, separated, or never were married
The father or mother of the child has been missing for at least six months
A court in another state has ordered grandparent visitation
Other situations in which a court may consider a petition for visitation by grandparents include those in which children resided in the home of their grandparents for at least one year before a parent removed the children. As a grandparents’ rights attorney in Chattanooga may advise, this situation creates a rebuttable presumption denying visitation may result in irreparable harm to the children.