Grandparents who want to see the child, and stepparents who want to be the parent.
Two Wyoming statutes give people who are not the child's parents a way into the child's life on paper. One lets a grandparent sue for visitation, on two findings the court must make. The other lets a stepparent adopt, with the other parent's consent or, on specific grounds, without it. Both are heard in district court and turn on the child's best interests. I handle them in Jackson for the grandparent, the parent being sued, the stepparent, and the parent who objects.
Call or text me. Clients get my cell number from day one, and I answer. Just been served? Here's what happens next.
Three things the statutes settle.
A grandparent, which includes a great-grandparent, may sue whoever has custody for reasonable visitation. The court grants it only if visitation is in the child's best interest and the parents' rights "are not substantially impaired" (W.S. § 20-7-101(a)). The custodian may later petition to revoke or amend it for good cause (W.S. § 20-7-101(d)).
A stepparent adoption is filed by the husband or wife whose spouse is the child's parent (W.S. § 1-22-104(b)), with both living parents' written consent (W.S. § 1-22-109). Without the other parent's consent, the court may still proceed on the grounds in W.S. § 1-22-110: abandonment, a year of willful non-support, and others listed below.
On a final decree the former parent has "no right to the control or custody of the child," and the adopting parent has every right and obligation of a natural parent (W.S. § 1-22-114). Support from the former parent ends with their rights; the child may take the new surname and inherits from the adoptive parent.
Grandparent visitation: what wins and what does not.
A parent's decision, and when a court overrides it
The statute is built around a tension the court takes seriously. Parents decide who their children see, and a fit parent's decision is entitled to weight. At the same time the Legislature gave grandparents a cause of action, which would be meaningless if a parent's refusal alone defeated it. The two fit together in the second finding: visitation that is modest, works around the parents' schedule, and does not displace the parent's authority does not substantially impair the parent's rights, while a demand for every other weekend and half the summer usually does.
The cases that succeed share facts: a grandparent who was part of the child's daily life, often after a death or a divorce in the middle generation; a cutoff that followed a dispute between adults rather than anything about the child; and evidence, from teachers or the other parent, that the child is worse off for the loss. The cases that fail are about the adults. Where custody between the parents is also unsettled, the custody page and the page on changing a custody order cover that side; a grandparent's petition is a separate action against the custodian, not a motion in the divorce.
- 01An original action in district court against the person having custody; the parents are the defendants, and both must be served
- 02The petition states the relationship, the history of contact, what visitation is asked for, and why the child is better off with it
- 03Service on the custodian and an answer under the civil rules; disclosure and discovery as in any civil action, usually brief
- 04If the court appoints a guardian ad litem, the grandparent pays all fees and expenses of the appointment (§ 20-7-101(a))
- 05A hearing on the two findings: the child's best interest, and no substantial impairment of the parents' rights
- 06An order for reasonable visitation in defined terms, or a denial; the custodian may later petition to revoke or amend it for good cause (§ 20-7-101(d))
- 07No action may be brought once the child has been adopted by two people neither of whom is related by blood (§ 20-7-101(c))
From W.S. § 20-7-101 as in force in 2026. A person who was the child's primary caregiver for six of the previous eighteen months has a parallel action under § 20-7-102.
Stepparent adoption, in four steps.
- The petition. Filed in district court by the stepparent, who must have lived in Wyoming for the sixty days before filing and be found fit to parent (W.S. § 1-22-103). It is filed with the consents and the relinquishment, and with the written consent of a child over fourteen (W.S. § 1-22-109). Hearings are closed to the public (W.S. § 1-22-105).
- Consent, or notice. A parent's consent must be acknowledged before a notary or approved by the court in chambers, and once given is irrevocable except for fraud or duress (W.S. § 1-22-109(c), (d)). A parent who will not consent is served with the petition and an order to show cause, by publication if they cannot be found (W.S. § 1-22-107), and may file objections at least five days before the hearing (W.S. § 1-22-108).
- The ground, if contested. The court may order the adoption without consent on findings that the parent failed to appear after notice, was judicially deprived of parental rights, willfully abandoned or deserted the child, willfully failed to support the child for the year before the petition and did not cure within sixty days of service, was adjudged guilty of cruelty, abuse, neglect or mistreatment, or willfully paid under seventy percent of ordered support for two years or more without curing (W.S. § 1-22-110(a)). A petition on a non-support ground must state plainly what failing to bring support current will cost the parent (W.S. § 1-22-110(b)).
- The decree. After the hearing the court, acting in the child's best interest and welfare, may enter an interlocutory decree, order an investigation and report, enter a final decree if the child has lived in the home for six months, or deny the adoption (W.S. § 1-22-111). The final decree ends the former parent's rights and makes the stepparent the parent for every purpose (W.S. § 1-22-114). Support that was already owed before the decree is generally still owed; the enforcement page covers collecting it.
The hard cases, and the Teton County courtroom.
The absent parent who pays, the parent who objects, grandparents after a divorce or a death, and what the court does here
The absent parent who keeps paying
The commonest stepparent adoption in Jackson involves a parent who left years ago, lives somewhere else, and has not seen the child since, but whose wages are garnished for support. The non-support grounds do not reach that parent, because the money is arriving, and abandonment is a separate finding that requires the court to be persuaded the parent willfully deserted the child, not merely that they were a poor one. Those cases turn on the record of contact: calls not made, visits not taken, what the parent said when the child asked. Consent is still the clean path, and a parent told plainly that consenting ends their support obligation sometimes gives it. The child's own wishes, whose written consent the statute requires once the child is over fourteen, are the rest of the case.
The parent who objects
I also represent the parent on the other side of the petition, and the first thing I tell them is that the clock in the statute is real. A petition on a non-support ground gives the parent sixty days from service to bring the support current, and a parent who does that has taken the ground away. Abandonment is answered by evidence of contact and of the obstacles to it: a custodial parent who blocked calls, moved without notice, or made visits impossible has supplied a defense. A parent who has been judicially deprived of their rights, or adjudged guilty of abuse of the child, has a much harder case, and should hear that early.
Grandparents after a divorce or a death
Grandparent cases in Teton County most often follow one of two events. After a divorce, the custodial parent cuts off the other side's grandparents along with the ex-spouse; the grandparents' time can usually be ordered without reopening the custody case, as reasonable visitation that fits inside the existing parenting schedule. After the death of a parent, the surviving parent may remarry or move, and the deceased parent's family finds itself with no legal standing and a child who has already lost one parent. In both, the second statutory finding is satisfied more easily than a parent expects, because the request is for a few days a month rather than a role in raising the child. A parent facing one of these petitions should treat it as a case, not an insult; the parent who refuses everything is the parent whose judgment the court ends up questioning.
In Teton County
Both kinds of case are filed in the district court in Jackson and heard by the one district judge who hears every family matter in the county. The court requires a guardian ad litem when a child's custody or visitation is actually tried, and under the visitation statute the grandparent bears that cost. Child interviews, if any, happen in chambers with the court reporter and the lawyers present and the parents outside. Adoption hearings are closed by statute and short when consented. Court sits in the temporary courtrooms at 250 E. Simpson Ave. until the new Justice Center opens in 2028; the courthouse page has the details. Anyone whose question is really about unpaid support should start with child support and the calculator, since a year of non-support is both an enforcement problem and, under this chapter, something more.
What grandparents and stepparents ask first.
Do grandparents have visitation rights in Wyoming?
Can grandparents get custody rather than visitation?
Does the other biological parent have to agree to a stepparent adoption?
Does the child have a say?
How long does a stepparent adoption take in Teton County?
What happens to grandparent visitation after an adoption?
Start with a confidential conversation with Aaron Herzberg.
A consultation is a scheduled working session, in person in Jackson or by video, in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid working session, not a sales pitch. The fee is quoted when we schedule. Your note reaches me directly, my office runs the conflicts check and puts the meeting on my calendar, and you can call or text any time.
40 E Simpson Ave, Jackson, WY 83001 · by appointment · video consultations for out-of-state clients · info@puzzlegroup.com