Senate committee approves bill letting grandparents seek changes to visitation orders

Senator Hodges introduced Senate Bill 245, the "grandparents visitation" measure, and a Georgia Senate committee voted unanimously to advance the bill.

The bill would amend Official Code of Georgia Annotated §19-7-3 to add grandparents to the categories of relatives who may petition a court to revoke or amend an existing visitation order. Senator Hodges said the change would allow grandparents who already have court-ordered visitation to return to court to seek modification "for good cause," while preserving the existing statutory limit that such petitions may not be filed more than once in a two-year period.

Why it matters: The bill clarifies who has standing to seek changes to visitation arrangements after events such as a parent's death, incapacity or incarceration. Supporters said the proposal preserves judicial discretion and parental deference while giving grandparents a procedural route to seek relief when circumstances change.

Senator Hodges told the committee the bill "amends, 19.7 0.3 of the official code of Georgia so as to include grandparents within category within the category who may seek to revoke or amend an existing grandparents visitation order." He said the measure does not change the legal standards judges use to decide visitation disputes and reiterated that judges would "hear facts and will make a final determination of visitation rights."

Two Macon-area grandparents, Steve Smith and Linda Smith, testified in support of the bill. Linda Smith described the circumstances that prompted the legislation: "On August 10, our son died of a massive heart attack while I was trying to do CPR ... Our granddaughter, having experienced that horrific time, was not allowed to attend her father's funeral." She told the committee the family had court-ordered visitation since February 2015 but faced obstacles when they sought additional court review after the child's father died.

A family-law attorney, Gary Graham, urged the committee to allow grandparents the ability to seek modification of visitation. Graham cited a prior case in which grandparents obtained visitation after a parent's death but later could not obtain needed modifications and said, "I urge you guys to allow grandparents to modify their visitation. Otherwise, they can get visitation and it can become meaningless if they can't go back to court at their own initiative to modify and address whatever problems may be existing." He described the difficulty and potential for ongoing harm when an established schedule cannot be adjusted to address parental conduct or relocation.

Committee action and outcome: With no further questions, a member moved to pass LC 570150. The motion received a second and the committee approved the bill by a voice/hand vote; committee members recorded no opposition.

The bill text and related documents distributed to the committee state the changes are limited to standing and procedural access for grandparents; Senator Hodges emphasized that the bill does not alter the substantive legal standard a judge would apply on the merits of any visitation dispute.

The committee then moved on to other scheduled bills.