Florida SB 1150: Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Bill Text

1150 
Grandparent Visitation 
2026-01-05T12:26:50Z 
Revising the criteria required for a grandparent of a minor child to petition the court for grandparent visitation; revising the purpose for which the court shall hold a certain preliminary hearing; revising the circumstances in which the court may appoint a guardian ad litem and must refer the matter to family mediation; revising the circumstances in which the court may award reasonable visitation to a grandparent, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1150 

 By Senator Rodriguez 

 40-00560-26 20261150__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to grandparent visitation; amending s. 
 3 752.011, F.S.; revising the criteria required for a 
 4 grandparent of a minor child to petition the court for 
 5 grandparent visitation; revising the purpose for which 
 6 the court shall hold a certain preliminary hearing; 
 7 revising the circumstances in which the court may 
 8 appoint a guardian ad litem and must refer the matter 
 9 to family mediation; revising the circumstances in 
 10 which the court may award reasonable visitation to a 
 11 grandparent; providing an effective date. 
 12 
 13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 14 
 15 Section 1. Section 752.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to 
 16 read: 
 17 752.011 Petition for grandparent visitation with a minor 
 18 child.—A grandparent of a minor child whose parents are 
 19 deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state, or whose 
 20 one parent is deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative 
 21 state and whose other parent has been convicted of a felony or 
 22 an offense of violence evincing behavior that poses a 
 23 substantial threat of harm to the minor child’s health or 
 24 welfare, may petition the court for court-ordered visitation 
 25 with the grandchild under this section if the minor child’s 
 26 parents are divorced or if one or both of the minor child’s 
 27 parents are deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative 
 28 state. 
 29 (1) Upon the filing of a petition by a grandparent for 
 30 visitation, the court shall hold a preliminary hearing to 
 31 determine whether the petitioner has made a prima facie showing 
 32 that the minor child’s parents are divorced or one or both of 
 33 the minor child’s parents are deceased, missing, or in a 
 34 persistent vegetative state of parental unfitness or significant 
 35 harm to the child. Absent such a showing, the court shall 
 36 dismiss the petition and may award reasonable attorney fees and 
 37 costs to be paid by the petitioner to the respondent. 
 38 (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if the court finds that 
 39 one parent of a child has been held criminally liable for the 
 40 death of the other parent of the child or civilly liable for an 
 41 intentional tort causing the death of the other parent of the 
 42 child, there is a presumption for granting reasonable visitation 
 43 with the petitioning grandparent or stepgrandparent if he or she 
 44 is the parent of the child’s deceased parent. This presumption 
 45 may only be overcome if the court finds that granting such 
 46 visitation is not in the best interests of the child. 
 47 (3) If the court finds that there is prima facie evidence 
 48 that the minor child’s parents are divorced or one or both of 
 49 the minor child’s parents are deceased, missing, or in a 
 50 persistent vegetative state a parent is unfit or that there is 
 51 significant harm to the child, the court may appoint a guardian 
 52 ad litem and must shall refer the matter to family mediation as 
 53 provided in s. 752.015. If family mediation does not 
 54 successfully resolve the issue of grandparent visitation, the 
 55 court must shall proceed with a final hearing. 
 56 (3)(4) After conducting a final hearing on the issue of 
 57 visitation, the court may award reasonable visitation to the 
 58 grandparent with respect to the minor child if the court finds 
 59 by clear and convincing evidence that the minor child’s parents 
 60 are divorced or one or both of the minor child’s parents are 
 61 deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state a parent 
 62 is unfit or that there is significant harm to the child, that 
 63 visitation is in the best interest of the minor child, and that 
 64 the visitation will not materially harm the parent-child 
 65 relationship, if one exists. 
 66 (4)(5) In assessing the best interests of the child under 
 67 subsection (3) (4), the court shall consider the totality of the 
 68 circumstances affecting the mental and emotional well-being of 
 69 the minor child, including: 
 70 (a) The love, affection, and other emotional ties existing 
 71 between the minor child and the grandparent, including those 
 72 resulting from the relationship that had been previously allowed 
 73 by the child’s parent. 
 74 (b) The length and quality of the previous relat