CS/HB 19 Summary

• Creates section 752.011 authorizing grandparents to petition courts for visitation with minor children when the parent(s) are deceased, missing, or in a permanent vegetative state, requiring preliminary hearing to establish prima facie evidence of parental unfitness or significant harm to the child.

• Requires courts to award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the respondent if the grandparent fails to make a prima facie showing, and allows visitation only upon clear and convincing evidence of parental unfitness or significant harm that will not materially harm the parent-child relationship.

• Establishes comprehensive factors for court consideration regarding best interests of the child, including the nature of prior relationships, emotional ties, and whether visitation would interfere with parental authority or disrupt family routines.

• Extends grandparent and great-grandparent visitation rights to dependent children in child welfare cases, limits original visitation actions to once per 2-year period except for good cause, and requires courts to refer cases to family mediation.

• Modifies adoption statutes to give great-grandparents notice rights in termination of parental rights and adoption proceedings when they have had significant contact with the child, and allows grandparent/great-grandparent visitation rights to survive stepparent or close relative adoptions unless criteria cannot be met; effective July 1, 2013.