Tennessee Grandparents' Rights: Hawk v. Hawk and the Substantial Harm Standard

Grandparents in Tennessee do not have automatic rights to see their grandchildren. A fit parent's own decision about who spends time with a child carries real constitutional weight, and Tennessee's courts recognized that seven years before a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Troxel v. Granville, ruled that a grandparent-visitation order infringed a fit mother's due process rights, without defining the precise scope of that right. That head start matters: Tennessee's grandparent-visitation law is shaped as much by its own state constitution as by anything federal courts later required.

This guide covers Tennessee's statute, the state supreme court decision that set its constitutional floor, the separate custody track, adoption cutoffs, and what filing actually involves.

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

What Tennessee's Grandparent Visitation Law Says

Tennessee's dedicated grandparent-visitation statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-6-306, most recently amended in 2025, is one of the more fully built-out visitation laws in the country. Unlike states that let any grandparent file at any time, Tennessee requires a specific triggering event before a petition can even be filed: the child's father or mother is deceased; the child's father and mother are divorced, legally separated, or were never married to each other; a parent has been missing for six months or more; a court of another state has ordered grandparent visitation; the child lived in the grandparent's home for 12 months or more and was then removed by a parent or custodian; or a significant existing relationship of 12 months or more was severed or severely reduced.

The second trigger keys on the parents' status, not on a pending case. It is satisfied when the parents are divorced, legally separated, or were never married to each other, so a divorce that has been filed but not finalized, with no legal separation in place, does not on its own meet it. The never-married ground matters in practice because it is the ordinary route for a child born out of wedlock, and the statute sends those petitions to juvenile court.

Once a grandparent has standing to file, the statute applies a «danger of substantial harm» standard: the court must find that denying visitation would present a real risk of substantial harm to the child, not merely that visitation would be nice to have. Two built-in rebuttable presumptions of harm work in the grandparent's favor in narrower circumstances: if the child lived with the grandparent for 12 months or more and was then removed, or if the child's parent has died and the petitioning grandparent is that deceased parent's own parent.

Two recent amendments changed the section. For petitions filed on or after April 11, 2024, § 36-6-306(c) provides that reasonable visitation «must constitute, at a minimum, sufficient contact to reasonably permit a strong and meaningful relationship to be established with the child» (2024 Pub. Ch. 715), which puts a floor under what an order can look like once a grandparent has cleared the substantial-harm and best-interest findings. Effective May 2, 2025, a new subsection (g) provides that the court «may award reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation expenses to either party in an action for grandparent visitation brought under this section» (2025 Pub. Ch. 321).

A separate, narrower statute, § 36-6-302, covers a different situation: a child who has been removed from the custody of a parent, guardian, or legal custodian and placed in a licensed foster home, a facility operated by a licensed child-care agency, or another home or facility designated or operated by the court. It reaches that placement however it came about, «whether such placement is by court order, voluntary placement agreement, surrender of parental rights, or otherwise», and it does not require a finding that a parent is unfit or absent. A court may then grant reasonable visitation on findings that visitation is in the child's best interest, that the grandparents would adequately protect the child from further abuse or intimidation, and that the grandparents were not implicated in the sexual-offense conduct the statute enumerates.

Hawk v. Hawk: Tennessee's Own Constitutional Rule

Tennessee's grandparent-visitation law cannot be understood from the statute text alone, because the statute itself grew out of a state supreme court decision that predates the U.S. Supreme Court's involvement in this area entirely.

In Hawk v. Hawk, 855 S.W.2d 573 (Tenn. 1993), the Tennessee Supreme Court held that Article I, Section 8 of the Tennessee Constitution, the state's own due process and privacy protections, bars a court from overriding an intact, fit, married couple's joint decision to deny grandparent visitation without a threshold finding of substantial danger of harm to the child. The trial court's earlier grant of extensive visitation, made without any finding that the parents were unfit, was reversed as an unconstitutional application of the grandparent-visitation law that existed at the time. The Tennessee Supreme Court decided the case entirely on state constitutional grounds, without reaching the federal question, seven years before Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), addressed similar territory for the whole country.

The practical result is that Tennessee's current statute, with its substantial-harm standard and enumerated triggers, was built to match a constitutional floor the state's own courts had already set. This is genuinely one of the more protective-of-parents standards in the country, and it means a Tennessee grandparent needs a real, fact-specific case, not just a sympathetic family story, to succeed.

Custody vs. Visitation Are Different Things

Visitation and custody are separate legal questions in Tennessee. The § 36-6-306 and § 36-6-302 statutes cover only visitation, meaning scheduled time with a grandchild who continues to live with a parent or other custodian. Tennessee does not have a general codified statute letting a grandparent petition for custody in a private dispute with a fit parent the way it has one for visitation. The permanent guardianship statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-802) is the closest codified vehicle, but it operates only after a formal dependency adjudication in juvenile court, not as a freestanding option for a grandparent who simply wants custody. Tennessee case law reportedly fills that gap for private custody disputes outside the juvenile-court track, though the specific case controlling that area was not independently confirmed for this guide. See can grandparents get custody for how that harder track generally works.

Adoption Cutoff

Under § 36-6-306(d), if a relative or stepparent adopts the child, the visitation statute continues to apply. If any other person adopts the child, previously granted visitation rights automatically end upon the adoption. Under § 36-6-302(b), the narrower foster-care-related route similarly does not apply once the child is adopted by anyone other than a stepparent or other relative.

Court Procedure

Several of the § 36-6-306 triggers, such as a parent being missing for six months or more or a severed significant relationship, do not require a pending divorce or custody case, so an independent visitation action is available in those circumstances. The petition is filed in the county where the child currently resides, in the circuit, chancery, or general sessions court with domestic relations jurisdiction, another court with domestic relations jurisdiction, or juvenile court in matters involving children born out of wedlock. No official statewide fee schedule was located for this guide; confirm current filing costs with the clerk of the court handling family matters in your county.

Before You File: Mediation and the Real Cost of Litigation

Tennessee's substantial-harm standard means a visitation case here is a real evidentiary undertaking, not a formality. Hawk v. Hawk's legacy means an intact, fit family's joint decision gets serious constitutional weight, and courts will not grant visitation on «we miss the kids» alone. Litigation is adversarial toward the child's own parent, can take a year or longer, and carries real financial and relational cost no matter how the case turns out.

Since May 2, 2025, that financial exposure runs in both directions. Section 36-6-306(g) lets the court award reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation expenses to either party in a grandparent-visitation action, so a grandparent who files and a parent who defends both carry the possibility of paying the other side's costs. Ask any attorney you consult how that provision is being applied in your county.

Before filing, most families are better served by trying mediation or a direct, calm conversation first. If talking it through fails, ask a Tennessee family lawyer for a free case evaluation on the substantial-harm standard and the fee risk (attorney advertising).

Related Tennessee Resources

For the broader family-law picture in Tennessee, see Tennessee child custody laws and Tennessee divorce laws. For the nationwide picture on this topic, see grandparent visitation rights, can grandparents get custody, and the grandparents' rights by state hub.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Tennessee grandparent-visitation law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Verify current statutory text and procedural details with the Tennessee General Assembly, the clerk of the court handling your case, or a licensed Tennessee attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-12.

Frequently Asked Questions

What standard do grandparents have to meet to win visitation in Tennessee?

A «danger of substantial harm» to the child if visitation is denied. This is one of the higher bars in the country, and it traces to the Tennessee Supreme Court's 1993 decision in Hawk v. Hawk.

Can a Tennessee grandparent file for visitation without a divorce or death in the family?

Only if one of the statute's other enumerated triggers applies, such as a parent being missing for six months or more, or a significant existing relationship of 12 months or more being severed or severely reduced. The divorce-related trigger is also about status rather than a pending case: it is met when the child's parents are divorced, legally separated, or were never married to each other.

What is Hawk v. Hawk?

A 1993 Tennessee Supreme Court decision holding that the state constitution bars a court from overriding an intact, fit, married couple's decision to deny grandparent visitation without a substantial-harm showing. It was decided seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court's Troxel v. Granville addressed similar issues nationally.

Can a Tennessee court order one side to pay the other's attorney's fees in a grandparent visitation case?

Yes. A 2025 amendment added § 36-6-306(g), effective May 2, 2025, which lets a court award reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation expenses to either party in an action for grandparent visitation brought under that section.

Can a Tennessee grandparent get custody instead of just visitation?

There is no general codified custody statute for a private dispute between a fit parent and a grandparent. The permanent guardianship statute only applies after a formal dependency case in juvenile court, so custody is a separate, harder track.

Does adoption end grandparent visitation rights in Tennessee?

If a relative or stepparent adopts the child, a visitation order under § 36-6-306 continues to apply. If anyone else adopts the child, previously granted visitation rights automatically end.