Texas Family Code Chapter 102: Standing for Relatives and Caregivers

Standing under Texas Family Code Chapter 102 determines who is allowed to file a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPCR), the case type Texas uses for custody, visitation, child support, and termination disputes. If you don’t fit one of the categories in Chapter 102, the court dismisses the case before ever reaching the question of what’s best for the child. One category changed on September 1, 2025: nonparent caregivers now have to show “exclusive” care rather than “actual” care, so older guides describe a looser rule than the one in force today.¹

Who Can File at Any Time

Section 102.003(a) lists the people and entities with general standing to file a SAPCR without having to meet a waiting period or caregiving threshold.²

A parent of the child, biological or adoptive.
A court-appointed guardian of the child’s person or estate.
A government entity, the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), or a licensed child-placing agency.
The child, through a court-authorized representative.
A person who holds possession or access rights under a custody order from another state or country, which allows that order to be enforced after a move to Texas.

Two more categories under § 102.003(a) carry conditions worth flagging. A man who claims to be the child’s father has standing under subsection (a)(8), but he must proceed through the paternity provisions of Chapter 160; general SAPCR standing does not bypass those steps. And a prospective adoptive parent designated by a pregnant woman or by the child’s parent has standing under § 102.0035 if the designation is in a verified written statement, which is enforceable even before the child is born.²

Nonparents Who Have Been Raising the Child

Before September 1, 2025, a nonparent could file by showing “actual care, control, and possession” of the child for six months. House Bill 2350 from the 89th Texas Legislature replaced “actual” with “exclusive” for any suit filed on or after that date.¹ Under the current version of § 102.003(a)(9), a nonparent must show all three of the following:²

Exclusive care, control, and possession of the child for at least six months.
A petition filed no more than 90 days after that six-month period ended.
No DFPS placement in the picture; foster parents, relatives, and designated caregivers who received the child from DFPS go through a separate provision.

The six months do not have to be consecutive. Courts look at where the child principally lived during the relevant period rather than demanding an unbroken stretch.²

The practical effect of the amendment is to narrow the pool. Under the old “actual” standard, a nonparent could share caregiving duties with a parent and still qualify. The new “exclusive” standard points toward a nonparent who was effectively the sole caregiver during the claimed period, without meaningful parental involvement. How courts draw that line in close cases is still being worked out.

Caregivers of Children Placed by DFPS

If DFPS placed the child in your home, your standing comes from § 102.003(a)(11), whether you are a foster parent, a relative, or a designated caregiver. The threshold is 12 months of care rather than six, and the same 90-day filing window applies after that period ends. The non-consecutive rule carries over as well; the court looks at where the child principally lived.²

Two outcomes shut this standing down. If the child has already been returned to a parent under § 263.403, or if DFPS dismissed its case after placing the child with a parent under § 263.401, the 12-month provision no longer applies.²

Foster parents also have an adoption shortcut. Under § 102.003(c), a foster parent approved to adopt the child can file an adoption suit without waiting out the 12-month period, provided the child is already eligible for adoption.²

Relatives When Both Parents Have Died

Section 102.003(a)(12) gives standing to a relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity when both parents are deceased at the time of filing. The fourth degree reaches great-great-grandparents, first cousins, great-aunts, and great-uncles.² The provision is narrow on purpose. Both parents must actually be dead. Absence, incarceration, or unfitness does not trigger it, and if either parent is still living, a relative has to find standing somewhere else in the chapter.

Grandparents and Third-Degree Relatives Seeking Conservatorship

Section 102.004 is the dedicated provision for grandparents and other relatives within the third degree of consanguinity who want managing conservatorship. It is not an open door. A grandparent or third-degree relative can file an original suit only when one of the following is true:³

The child’s present circumstances would significantly impair the child’s physical health or emotional development.
Both parents, the surviving parent, or the current managing conservator joined in filing the petition or consented to it.

The “significant impairment” bar is deliberately steep. Disagreement with parenting choices is not enough, and a judge cannot override a fit parent’s decisions just because a different arrangement looks better on paper.

Section 102.004 does not let a grandparent file an original suit seeking only possessory conservatorship, which is the usual label for visitation or limited access. A grandparent can, however, ask the court for leave to intervene in a SAPCR that is already pending, if the court finds the grandparent had substantial past contact with the child and that appointing a parent as sole managing conservator would significantly impair the child. The grandparent carries the burden on both elements.³

Standing to Request Adoption

Section 102.005 governs suits for adoption, or for termination joined with an adoption petition. The qualifying categories are:⁴

A stepparent of the child.
An adult who received the child through an adoption placement and had actual possession and control at any point during the 30 days before filing.
An adult who has adopted a sibling of the child, or who is the foster parent of a sibling and has petitioned to adopt that sibling.

The time thresholds are far shorter than the six and 12-month rules in § 102.003 because adoption placements involve agency screening and supervision that the court can rely on.

Filing After Parental Rights Have Been Terminated

Section 102.006 cuts off most people once every living parent’s rights have been ended by court order. Former parents cannot file. Neither can the father (if his rights were terminated) nor family members or relatives of either former parent.⁵

Three exceptions survive:⁵

You hold a continuing right to possession or access under an existing court order.
The child’s managing conservator, guardian, or legal custodian consents to the suit.
You are a relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity of a former parent and you file within 90 days after DFPS obtained the termination order.

That 90-day window is easy to miss. The clock starts the day DFPS gets the termination order, and once it runs out, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or cousin loses standing under this exception entirely.

Standing Is Not Enough on Its Own: Texas Must Have Jurisdiction

Qualifying under Chapter 102 only answers half the question. The court also needs jurisdiction over the custody matter. Section 152.201 of the Family Code, which codifies the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), lets a Texas court make an initial custody determination only when Texas is the child’s “home state.”⁶

Texas qualifies if the child lived here with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the case was filed. If the child recently left Texas but a parent still lives here, Texas keeps home-state status for six months after the departure. For an infant younger than six months, Texas is the home state if the child has lived here from birth.

When no state meets the home-state test, Texas can hear the case if the child and at least one parent have a significant connection to the state and substantial evidence about the child’s care is available here. A Texas court can also exercise temporary emergency jurisdiction when the child is physically in Texas and faces abandonment or abuse, but emergency orders are temporary and give way once the proper home state acts.⁶

1
Texas Children’s Commission. 89th Regular Legislative Session Update
2
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.003 – General Standing to File Suit
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.004 – Standing for Grandparent or Other Person
4
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.005 – Standing to Request Termination and Adoption
5
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 102.006 – Limitations on Standing
6
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 152.201 – Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction