Often forgotten in divorces where children are involved is the pain suffered by grandparents. For them, emotional trauma is multiplied by the fact that grandparents are typically shut out of the legal process and have little or no control over visitation agreements.

Like many other states, custodial parents in Texas have a fundamental right to raise children any way they want, and that means being able to choose who can see their children.  “For grandparents to remain in the lives of their grandchildren after divorce everyone has to remain on good terms,” says San Antonio family lawyer Amber Liddell Alwais of McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing. “Otherwise, their chances for visitation are severely hampered.”

If relationships with the child’s parents are strained, a grandparent’s chances for visitation are greatly eroded. Absent an invitation by a child’s caregiver, grandparents may try to petition the court to secure visitation. However, to be successful, grandparents must prove a child’s health or emotional well-being will be impaired without the time together, she adds. 

“There is a lot out of your control, but it’s much easier to just stay close to your children and their former spouse so that they will want to keep you involved.”