Wyoming Grandparents' Rights: A Thin Statute Untested Against Troxel

Grandparents in Wyoming do not have automatic rights to see their grandchildren. Wyoming's statute is unusually open at the courthouse door: a grandparent may bring an original action against anyone who has custody of the grandchild, at any time, with no divorce, death, or other triggering event required. What happens after filing is a different story. In Ailport v. Ailport, 2022 WY 43 (Mar. 31, 2022), the Wyoming Supreme Court read a constitutional threshold into that statute, and it is one of the more demanding in the country: a grandparent must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the parents are unfit or that their visitation decision is or will be harmful to the child before a court may even ask what visitation would be in the child's best interest.

Open filing access and a strong case are not the same thing in Wyoming. That distinction is the most important thing to understand before filing.

Information last verified on 2026-09-02. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

What Wyoming's Grandparent Visitation Law Says

Wyoming's grandparent-visitation statute, Wyo. Stat. § 20-7-101(a), is compact and unusually open in one specific way: a grandparent may bring an original action against any person who has custody of the grandchild, at any time, with no requirement that a divorce, death, or other family event has occurred first. That access point alone makes Wyoming's statute stand out among the states covered in this cluster.

The text then says the court shall grant reasonable visitation if it finds «that visitation would be in the best interest of the child and that the rights of the child's parents are not substantially impaired.» Read on its own, that looks like an open best-interest balance. It is not how the statute operates. The Wyoming Supreme Court has construed those words to carry a constitutional threshold that comes first, and that threshold is the subject of the next section.

One neighboring provision is worth knowing about so you do not go looking for it: Wyo. Stat. § 20-7-102 creates a similar visitation action for a person who has been the child's primary caregiver for at least six months within the previous eighteen, but § 20-7-102(b) bars that action for «a person related to the child by blood.» A grandparent who was the grandchild's primary caregiver cannot use that alternative route.

The Constitutional Threshold Ailport Requires

This is the part of Wyoming law that a reading of the statute alone will miss, and it matters far more than the open filing access does.

In Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similarly permissive Washington statute that let any person petition for visitation at any time with no threshold showing, holding that a court must give «special weight» to a fit parent's own decision rather than treat it as one factor in an open best-interest analysis.

Wyoming answered that question directly in Ailport v. Ailport, 2022 WY 43 (Mar. 31, 2022). The Wyoming Supreme Court applied strict scrutiny to § 20-7-101 and held that, to survive it, the statute «must be interpreted to protect parents' fundamental right by requiring grandparents to prove parents are unfit to make visitation decisions for their children or the parents' visitation decisions are or will be harmful to the children. Only after the grandparents make that threshold showing by clear and convincing evidence may the district court determine what visitation is in the best interests of the children.» The court affirmed the denial of visitation in that case.

That is a two-step test, and the first step is the hard one. Clear and convincing evidence is a materially higher burden than the preponderance standard used in most civil disputes. Disappointment, a strained relationship, or a sincere belief that more contact would be good for the child does not meet it. The grandparent has to show that the parents are unfit or that the parents' own visitation decision is harming or will harm the child.

Wyoming courts have enforced that threshold since. In Bowman v. Study, 2022 WY 139 (Nov. 9, 2022), the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed an order granting grandparent visitation because the grandparents had not shown by clear and convincing evidence that the parents were unfit or that their visitation decision was harmful to the children. In Galvan v. Malone, 2025 WY 65 (June 13, 2025), the court reversed a grandparent-visitation order again on the same ground.

The practical result is that Wyoming's standing rule and Wyoming's substantive standard point in opposite directions. A grandparent can file without waiting for a divorce or a death, and then faces one of the more parent-protective standards in the country. A parent defending a petition should know the presumption starts on the parent's side, and that an order entered without the threshold finding is reversible, as Bowman and Galvan both demonstrate.

Custody Is a Separate, Harder Track

Wyoming has no dedicated grandparent-custody statute. The general minor-guardianship statute (Title 3, ch. 2) sets a priority order for who can be appointed guardian of a minor: parents first, then a parent's will-nominee, then a minor age 14 or older's own request, then «any other person» found to be in the child's best interest. Grandparents are not named specifically and fall into that residual category.

That list is a starting point, not a ranking the court must follow. Wyo. Stat. § 3-2-107(e) provides that the court «shall consider the priorities ... but shall not be bound by those priorities» and «shall appoint the person who is best qualified and willing to serve as guardian.» A grandparent's position in the list is therefore less of an obstacle than the ordering suggests. The appointment-grounds section (Wyo. Stat. § 3-2-104) uses a general necessity standard proved by a preponderance of the evidence, without an explicit unfitness or harm test in the text. See can grandparents get custody for how this generally harder track compares across states.

Adoption Protection

Under Wyo. Stat. § 20-7-101(c), no visitation action may be brought if the grandchild has been adopted and neither adopting parent is related by blood to the child. The trigger is the adopting parent's blood relationship to the child, not the grandparent's. An adoption by a blood relative, such as an aunt or uncle, leaves a grandparent's standing intact; an adoption by people with no blood tie to the child ends it. Relation by marriage does not count, so a step-grandparent is related by marriage rather than blood and a step-grandparent's adoption would fall on the barred side of that line.

Court Procedure

Wyoming's statute describes the process only as bringing «an original action» against the person with custody of the grandchild, without specifying which court, district or circuit, has jurisdiction in the text available for this guide. One cost rule is built directly into the statute itself: the grandparent is responsible for guardian ad litem fees and expenses if the court appoints one in the case, a real financial consideration separate from any official filing-fee schedule. No official filing-fee schedule was located for this guide; confirm current costs with the clerk of court where you plan to file.

Before You File: Mediation and the Real Cost of Litigation

Wyoming's lack of a trigger requirement means a grandparent can technically file at any time, but that is not the same thing as a favorable law. Under Ailport the grandparent carries a clear-and-convincing burden on parental unfitness or harm before the best-interest question is reached at all, and litigating against your own child's parenting decision carries real financial and relational cost, including the guardian ad litem fees the statute puts on the grandparent.

Before filing, mediation or a direct family conversation is worth trying first. A Wyoming family-law attorney can help you assess honestly whether the facts you actually have would clear the Ailport threshold before you spend anything on a petition.

Related Wyoming Resources

For the broader family-law picture in Wyoming, see Wyoming child custody laws and Wyoming 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 Wyoming grandparent-visitation and guardianship law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether a particular set of facts clears the clear-and-convincing threshold Ailport requires is a fact question for the district court, and outcomes depend heavily on the specific circumstances of each family. Verify current details with the Wyoming Legislature, the clerk of court in your county, or a licensed Wyoming attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-09-02.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do grandparents have automatic visitation rights in Wyoming?

No. No state gives grandparents automatic rights. Wyoming's statute allows filing at any time with no triggering event, but a fit parent's decision carries a presumption the grandparent must overcome. Under Ailport v. Ailport, 2022 WY 43, the grandparent must first prove by clear and convincing evidence that the parents are unfit or that their visitation decision is or will be harmful to the child before a court may weigh best interest at all.

Does Wyoming require a divorce or death before a grandparent can file for visitation?

No. Wyo. Stat. § 20-7-101 lets a grandparent bring an original action against any person with custody of the grandchild at any time, with no life-event trigger required. Open standing is not the same as a favorable standard once the case is contested.

Has Wyoming's grandparent visitation law been tested against the Troxel decision?

Yes. In Ailport v. Ailport, 2022 WY 43 (Mar. 31, 2022), the Wyoming Supreme Court applied Troxel and strict scrutiny to Wyo. Stat. § 20-7-101 and construed the statute to require grandparents to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the parents are unfit or that their visitation decision is or will be harmful to the child before a court reaches best interest. The court has since reversed visitation orders that skipped that step in Bowman v. Study, 2022 WY 139, and Galvan v. Malone, 2025 WY 65.

What does a Wyoming grandparent have to prove to win visitation?

Two things, in order. First, by clear and convincing evidence, that the parents are unfit to make visitation decisions or that the parents' visitation decision is or will be harmful to the child. Only if that threshold is met does the court go on to decide what visitation would be in the child's best interest without substantially impairing the parents' rights.

Who pays for a guardian ad litem in a Wyoming grandparent-visitation case?

The grandparent. The statute itself makes the grandparent responsible for guardian ad litem fees and expenses if the court appoints one.

Does adoption end a Wyoming grandparent's visitation rights?

Only if the grandchild has been adopted and neither adopting parent is related by blood to the child. If an adopting parent is a blood relative, such as an aunt or uncle, the grandparent's standing is preserved. Relation by marriage does not count, so an adoption by someone related only by marriage, such as a step-grandparent, would trigger the bar.