Georgia CommonsSenate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
SB 245: Grandparents; include within the category of persons who may seek to revoke or amend an existing grandparent visitation order
Last action July 1, 2025 · Effective Date
Senate Bill 245 lets grandparents who were granted visitation because a parent died, became incapacitated, or was incarcerated later ask a Georgia court to change or cancel that visitation order.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Georgia law already lets grandparents and other family members sue for court-ordered visitation with a grandchild, including a special provision covering cases where a parent has died, is incapacitated, or is incarcerated. Under current law, only a legal custodian, guardian, or parent could later go back to court to revoke or amend a grandparent's visitation order. This bill changes that by adding the grandparent themselves to the list of people who can petition the court to revoke or amend the visitation order that was granted under the parent-death, incapacity, or incarceration provision. The bill also makes a small wording clarification about what counts as an established pattern of visitation or child care for purposes of proving harm to the child. As with the existing rule for other visitation petitions, any request to revoke or amend an order cannot be filed more than once during any two-year period. The bill repeals conflicting laws and does not specify a delayed effective date, meaning it would take effect under the state's standard rules once signed.
What the bill does
- Adds grandparents of a deceased, incapacitated, or incarcerated parent to the list of people who can petition a Georgia court to revoke or amend an existing grandparent visitation order.
- Limits how often that new revocation or amendment petition can be filed, capping it at once every two years, matching the existing limit for other visitation petitions.
- Clarifies the wording describing what counts as an established pattern of visitation or child care when a court weighs whether denying visitation would harm the child.
- Leaves in place the existing clear and convincing evidence standard courts must use before granting or revoking family member visitation.
Who it affects
Grandparents whose grandchild's parent has died, become incapacitated, or been incarcerated; the surviving or custodial parents and legal guardians of those children; and Georgia's superior courts, which handle these visitation disputes under O.C.G.A. § 19-7-3.
Why it matters
Grandparents who already won visitation rights under the parent-death, incapacity, or incarceration provision currently cannot ask a court to change those terms themselves if circumstances shift; this bill gives them that legal option, potentially leading to more requests to revisit existing visitation arrangements.
Key provisions
- Section 1 revises subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. § 19-7-3 to clarify wording about an established pattern of visitation or child care between a family member and the child.
- Section 1 also revises subsection (c)(2) wording about petitions to revoke or amend visitation, without changing who may file under that general provision.
- Section 1 adds new language to subsection (d) allowing a grandparent granted visitation because a parent died, is incapacitated, or is incarcerated to later petition to revoke or amend that visitation for good cause shown.
- The new petition right in subsection (d) is capped at one filing during any two-year period, matching the limit that already applied to other visitation-related petitions.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.
From the bill
“After such visitation rights have been granted to any parent of the deceased, incapacitated, or incarcerated parent of the minor child, such parent may petition the court for revocation or amendment of such visitation rights for good cause shown”
“such a petition shall not be filed more than once during any two-year period.”
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 186
- Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
- Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
- Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
Show full history (18 actions)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Mike Hodges (R, SD-3)
- John F. Kennedy (R, SD-18)
- Kay Kirkpatrick (R, SD-32)
- John Albers (R, SD-56)
- Billy Hickman (R, SD-4)
- Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
- Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
Votes
- Senate voteMarch 6, 2025
56 yea, 0 nay
- House voteMarch 28, 2025
160 yea, 1 nay (4 not voting, 15 excused)
- Senate voteApril 2, 2025
52 yea, 0 nay (4 not voting, 0 excused)
Topics
- grandparent visitation
- family law
- child custody
- parental incarceration