Legal Question in Family Law in Tennessee

Re: Grandparents rights

Assuming you are in Tennessee, you can work real hard to get back in the good graces of whichever parent is denying you contact with the grandchildren.

Under Tennessee law you have no right to visitation with your grandchildren beyond whatever visitation the parents might wish to allow.

The idea behind this is that the parents of the children raise the children, not the grandparents, and that the state has no business interfering with the everyday decisions of parents unless it is clearly shown that a substantial risk of substantial harm to the child exists if the state does not interfere.

In other words, try to make up with the parents of your grandchildren and persuade them to let you see the children, because there is virtually nothing you can do in Tennessee to get a court order for grandparent visitation.

What if the parents of the grandchildren are unreasonable? It doesn't change the law. The answer remains the same.