Texas law: The role of grandparents in family law issues

I love grandparents. Thank heavens that many of our families have them because they are the safety net for many of their grandchildren when families are going through turmoil and difficult custody or divorce situations. Texas is real unclear about the role of grandparents legally. I know that most grandparents emotionally are very involved with their grandchildren and are a real benefit to the grandchildren as well as to their own adult children, the parents of the kids. But when grandparents are speaking about getting into the frays of the divorce or getting into a custody battle, there are some things they really need to consider very seriously with their legal counsel. The way you get into a lawsuit is called standing, and you have to have the legal right under the law in your state in order to even file a lawsuit to do anything or to intervene in a pending lawsuit to do anything, and that’s whether it’s custody or just access and possession of those children. So you’ll need to look very carefully at whether you even have the right as a grandparent to intervene or to file your own lawsuit about the welfare of the children. If you don’t have that right, and your legal advisors find that you are not eligible to file that lawsuit, you may need to go a step further and have either a family intervention or contact the authorities, a Child Protective Services Agency, if the difficulties your grandchildren are experiencing rise to the level of being a danger to themselves or to their families.