A recent revision to Georgia’s grandparents visitation statute clarifies language the state Supreme Court struck down in Patten v. Ardis, 304 Ga. 140 (2018). Previously, the statute allowed Georgia courts to grant grandparents visitation rights if they could prove that visits were in the child’s “best interest.”

In Patten, the court determined that the language was an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of parents. The new language, passed by the state Legislature earlier this year in Senate Bill 576 and effective July 1, allows courts to award grandparents visitation only if they can prove the child will be “harmed” if visitation is not granted.