Pennsylvania Grandparents' Rights: Visitation and Custody Laws

Pennsylvania does not give grandparents an automatic right to seek custody or visitation of a grandchild, and the rules changed meaningfully and recently. The old law let a grandparent seek custody just because the child's parents had been separated for six months, with no requirement that the child be at any risk. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rejected that in 2016, and the legislature rewrote the standing rules in 2018. Any source written before 2018 describing the old separation-only trigger is now wrong. This guide covers the current, post-2018 law.

Information last verified on 2026-08-12. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

The Fit-Parent Presumption in Pennsylvania

Under Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), a fit parent's decisions about a child's relationships, including with a grandparent, are constitutionally protected. Pennsylvania's own supreme court applied that protection directly to strike down part of the state's grandparent-custody statute in 2016, discussed below, and the legislature's 2018 fix is the current law every Pennsylvania grandparent needs to understand.

D.P. v. G.J.P.: Why the Old Trigger Failed

In D.P. v. G.J.P., 636 Pa. 574, 146 A.3d 204 (Pa. 2016), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down part of the former 23 Pa.C.S. Section 5325(2), which gave grandparents standing to seek partial physical custody based solely on the parents having been separated for six months or more, with no requirement that the children be at any risk. Chief Justice Saylor wrote the Opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Todd, Donohue and Dougherty. The Court concluded that "the fact of a parental separation for six months or more does not render the state's parens patriae interest sufficiently pressing to justify potentially disturbing the decision of presumptively fit parents concerning the individuals with whom their minor children should associate." The provision was therefore not narrowly tailored, could not survive strict scrutiny, and violated the parents' rights under the Due Process Clause. The order dismissing the grandparents' complaint was affirmed.

The remedy was deliberately narrow. The Court severed only the first half of paragraph (2), the separation language. The paragraph's separate basis for parents who "have commenced and continued a proceeding to dissolve their marriage" was not challenged in the case, so it survived the ruling and stayed on the books until Act 21 rewrote the paragraph in 2018. Justices Baer and Wecht each filed a concurring and dissenting opinion agreeing that the separation trigger had to go but arguing the Court should have struck more; Justice Baer would have invalidated Section 5325(2) in its entirety.

The 2018 Act 21 Fix: Today's Standing Rules

The Pennsylvania legislature responded with Act 21, amending 23 Pa.C.S. Sections 5324 and 5325 effective 60 days after May 4, 2018, confirmed current at palegis.us. Under the current text of Section 5325, and in addition to the broader Section 5324 routes covered below, a grandparent or great-grandparent has standing to seek partial physical custody or supervised physical custody where one of three conditions is met:

• The death of a parent of the child;
• The grandparent-child relationship began with a parent's consent or a court order, AND the parents are in an actual custody proceeding and disagree about the grandparent's continued involvement in the child's life, not mere separation; or
• The child lived with the grandparent for 12 or more consecutive months and was then removed by the parents, with the action filed within six months of that removal.

The pre-2018 version of Section 5325(2), the mere six-month-separation trigger with no dispute-and-disagreement requirement, is dead law after D.P. v. G.J.P. and the 2018 amendment. A page, or any source, describing that old separation-only trigger as current is describing a rule Pennsylvania no longer has.

A Note on Pennsylvania's Terminology

Pennsylvania law does not use the word «visitation» the way many other states do. Chapter 53 of Title 23 speaks in terms of «partial physical custody» and «supervised physical custody,» both of which function like what other states call visitation, time with the child short of full legal or primary physical custody. When this page or another Pennsylvania source refers to a grandparent seeking «custody,» it may mean this more limited, visitation-like arrangement rather than primary custody of the child. The standing rules described above govern both.

Standing Is Only the First Step

Even after a grandparent clears one of the three standing categories above, standing alone does not grant custody. Courts apply the best-interest factors of 23 Pa.C.S. Section 5328(c). For a grandparent or great-grandparent with standing under the death-of-a-parent or disputed-relationship categories, the court weighs prior personal contact between the grandparent and child, whether the award would interfere with any parent-child relationship, and the child's best interest generally. For the narrower 12-months-then-removed category, a shorter two-factor version applies: interference with the parent-child relationship, and best interest.

The Custody Track More Broadly

23 Pa.C.S. Section 5324, as amended in 2018, gives standing for any form of physical or legal custody to a parent, a person in loco parentis, a grandparent not in loco parentis whose relationship began with parental consent and who meets a dependency, at-risk, or 12-month-then-removed condition, or another individual who proves three things by clear and convincing evidence: that the individual has assumed or is willing to assume responsibility for the child, that the individual has a sustained, substantial and sincere interest in the child's welfare, and that neither parent has any form of care and control of the child. That last route is unavailable altogether if a dependency proceeding involving the child has been initiated or is ongoing, or if there is an order of permanent legal custody under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 6351(a)(2.1) or (f.1)(3). See Pennsylvania child custody laws and can grandparents get custody for the broader custody landscape.

Adoption and Grandparent Custody Rights

23 Pa.C.S. Section 5326 automatically terminates a grandparent's or great-grandparent's custody rights upon the child's adoption, unless the adopting party is a stepparent, grandparent, or great-grandparent. Adoption by anyone else ends those rights automatically.

How and Where to File

These cases are filed in the Court of Common Pleas. A grandparent cannot simply allege a good relationship; one of the specific standing categories above must be met. For the disputed-relationship trigger specifically, the parents must actually be in a custody proceeding and disagree about the grandparent's role; simple separation or divorce, without that dispute, is not enough post-2018. No official statewide fee schedule was located; confirm current filing costs with the county's Court of Common Pleas.

Mediation Before Litigation

Because Pennsylvania's standing rules are now genuinely narrow, and because a filing that does not fit one of the three categories will be dismissed before any best-interest hearing, informal resolution should always be tried first. A direct conversation or family mediation can restore contact in situations, such as an ordinary separation without a custody dispute over the grandparent's role, where Pennsylvania law today provides no path to court at all.

What Litigation Actually Looks Like

Pennsylvania is a clear example of a state where the law changed meaningfully and recently, and where the standing gate itself, not just the best-interest standard, is the practical obstacle. A grandparent should confirm which of the three current categories applies before filing, since a case that would have qualified before 2016 may not qualify today. Expect real legal costs and a fact-intensive process even after standing is established. If a grandparent decides to pursue a petition, a family-law attorney licensed in Pennsylvania can confirm the case fits the current, post-2018 standing rules before filing.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Pennsylvania grandparent custody and visitation law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Pennsylvania's standing rules changed in 2018, and whether a specific case fits one of the current categories depends on the facts. Consult a family-law attorney licensed in Pennsylvania before relying on anything here for a specific case.

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Last updated: 2026-08-12.

Related reading: Grandparents' rights by state, grandparent visitation rights, Pennsylvania divorce laws.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can grandparents get custody or visitation in Pennsylvania?

Yes, but only on narrow statutory grounds. For visitation, meaning partial or supervised physical custody, 23 Pa.C.S. Section 5325 as amended by 2018's Act 21 allows three situations: a parent's death, an actual custody dispute in which the parents disagree about the grandparent's continued involvement, or the child having lived with the grandparent for 12 or more months before being removed. Section 5324(3) separately allows a grandparent to seek any form of physical or legal custody where the relationship began with a parent's consent or a court order and the child has been adjudicated dependent or is substantially at risk from parental abuse, neglect, drug or alcohol abuse, or incapacity.

Is it true that Pennsylvania grandparents can file for custody after a six-month separation?

No, not anymore. That rule was struck down in D.P. v. G.J.P. (2016) and replaced by the legislature's 2018 Act 21, which requires an actual custody dispute with disagreement over the grandparent's role, not mere separation.

What did D.P. v. G.J.P. decide?

In an Opinion of the Court by Chief Justice Saylor, joined by Justices Todd, Donohue and Dougherty, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that giving grandparents standing based solely on six months of parental separation, with no requirement that the children be at risk, was not narrowly tailored and violated the parents' rights under the Due Process Clause. The Court severed only that separation language; the paragraph's separate divorce-proceeding basis was not challenged and survived until the 2018 amendment replaced the paragraph. Justices Baer and Wecht each filed a concurring and dissenting opinion that would have struck more.

Does standing to file guarantee a Pennsylvania grandparent will get custody?

No. Standing only allows the case to be heard. The court then applies best-interest factors under 23 Pa.C.S. Section 5328(c), including whether the award would interfere with the parent-child relationship.

Does adoption end a grandparent's custody rights in Pennsylvania?

Yes, automatically, under 23 Pa.C.S. Section 5326, unless the person adopting the child is a stepparent, grandparent, or great-grandparent.