Tysons, Virginia · Child Visitation & Parenting Time

You helped raise that child. The sleepovers, the school pickups, the Sunday dinners, and then a divorce or a falling-out closed the door, and now you are not sure you will see your grandchild again. I will be honest with you from the first line, because you deserve honesty: grandparent visitation over a fit parent’s objection is hard to win in Virginia, and the law sets a high bar on purpose. A grandparent must prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the child will suffer actual harm without the relationship. In Tysons, we tell you the truth about your odds and fight hard where the facts support it.

By Alisa Chunephisal, Esq. · Founding Partner, NOVA Legal Professionals

This article is one part of our larger guide to child visitation in Virginia. For the full picture, start with our cornerstone, Child Visitation and Parenting Time in Virginia. Here, I will focus on what the law actually requires of a grandparent, and where a case can realistically succeed.

What the law requires

Virginia treats a grandparent as a person with a legitimate interest who may ask the court for visitation under Virginia Code Section 20-124.2. But when a fit parent objects, the court does not simply weigh what would be nice for the child. It applies a demanding standard. You can read more on our grandparent visitation page.

The honest truth about the standard

Here is the part many grandparents are never told plainly. When both parents, or a sole surviving fit parent, oppose the visitation, the grandparent must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the child will suffer actual harm if the relationship is denied. Not that the child would benefit. Not that you love them. Actual harm. That is a high bar, set by the Virginia Supreme Court in Williams v. Williams, and it usually requires real evidence, often including expert testimony, not just a grandparent’s heartfelt account. I would rather tell you this now than after you have spent a year hoping.

Why the bar is so high

The reason is constitutional. Fit parents have a fundamental right to decide who spends time with their children, and courts are required to give a fit parent’s decision special weight. The 2025 decision in Williams v. Panter reaffirmed how protective Virginia is of that parental right, even striking down part of the statute that had made things easier for a grandparent after a parent’s death. The law starts from the presumption that a fit parent is acting in the child’s best interests, and the grandparent carries the heavy burden of overcoming it.

How a Virginia court decides

If the grandparent clears the actual-harm hurdle, the court then turns to the familiar best interests of the child factors in Virginia Code Section 20-124.3. But that second step is only reached after the high burden is met. We help you understand which step your case is really on, because a grandparent who treats a hard actual-harm case like a simple best-interests case is set up for heartbreak. The order of the analysis is everything here.

The path that often works better

Sometimes the wiser route is not a courtroom at all. Where there is any opening, mediation or a negotiated agreement with the parents can preserve the relationship without forcing a judge to apply that punishing standard, and without the lasting damage a contested fight can do to the wider family. When litigation truly is the only path, we bring it with clear-eyed strength, and if circumstances later change, a modification may reopen the door. A Tysons case would be heard in the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

How we help in Tysons

We give grandparents an honest assessment first, then a real strategy: negotiation where there is an opening, and a documented, well-supported grandparent visitation petition where the facts show a genuine risk of harm to the child. We do not sell false hope, and we do not give up on a case the law can actually win. We do this for grandparents across Tysons, Vienna, and the McLean area.

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