republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1325.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Visitation; petition of grandparent."
description: "Visitation; petition of grandparent. Requires the court, in petitions for visitation filed by the grandparent ofa child where either (i) the parent is the grandparent's child andis deceased, incarcerated, or incapacitated, or has had his parentalrights terminated or (ii) the grandparent has an established relationshipwith the child and has provided a significant level of care for thechild, to consider the following factors: (a) the historical relationshipbetween the grandparent and child; (b) the motivation of the grandparentin seeking visitation; (c) the motivation of the living parent indenying visitation to the grandparent; (d) the quantity of time requestedand the effect it will have on the child's daily activities; and (e) the benefits of maintaining a relationship with the extended familyof the deceased parent."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 1325"
citation: "Virginia SB 1325 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Siobhan S. Dunnavant"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 34
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-01-12"
last_action: "2021-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dd3655cd-c6fa-495c-94bf-23454bbb14d2"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1325"
source_hash: "514e48f261858028f4b800f9d6fa053b0d509fa6c362d6fc5e30984cce9f76a2"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 1325 (2021) — Visitation; petition of grandparent.

Visitation; petition of grandparent. Requires the court, in petitions for visitation filed by the grandparent ofa child where either (i) the parent is the grandparent's child andis deceased, incarcerated, or incapacitated, or has had his parentalrights terminated or (ii) the grandparent has an established relationshipwith the child and has provided a significant level of care for thechild, to consider the following factors: (a) the historical relationshipbetween the grandparent and child; (b) the motivation of the grandparentin seeking visitation; (c) the motivation of the living parent indenying visitation to the grandparent; (d) the quantity of time requestedand the effect it will have on the child's daily activities; and (e) the benefits of maintaining a relationship with the extended familyof the deceased parent.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **CHAP0253** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+CHAP0253)
2. **Committee substitute printed 21103796D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1325S1)
3. **Committee substitute printed 21200181D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1325H1)
4. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102917D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1325)
5. **SB1325ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1325ER)

## Votes

- VOTE: Passage (98-Y 1-N) — **97–1** (pass) · lower
- Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice — **0–0** (fail) · lower
- House substitute agreed to by Senate (37-Y 2-N) — **37–2** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 2-N) — **12–2** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (35-Y 0-N) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (35-Y 4-N) — **35–4** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 0-N) — **21–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Siobhan S. Dunnavant — primary (person)
- Joseph D. Morrissey — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-12** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21102917D `introduction`
- **2021-01-12** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-27** Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-01-27** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (12-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-27** Committee substitute printed 21103796D-S1 `substitution`
- **2021-01-29** Constitutional reading dispensed (35-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-01** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-01** Reading of substitute waived
- **2021-02-01** Committee substitute agreed to 21103796D-S1
- **2021-02-01** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1325S1
- **2021-02-02** Read third time and passed Senate (35-Y 4-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-05** Placed on Calendar
- **2021-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-08** Continued to Special Session 1 in Courts of Justice
- **2021-02-12** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2021-02-12** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2021-02-17** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-17** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (21-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-17** Committee substitute printed 21200181D-H1 `substitution`
- **2021-02-19** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2021-02-22** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2021-02-22** Committee substitute agreed to 21200181D-H1
- **2021-02-22** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1325H1
- **2021-02-22** Passed House with substitute (98-Y 1-N) `passage`
- **2021-02-22** VOTE: Passage (98-Y 1-N)
- **2021-02-23** House substitute agreed to by Senate (37-Y 2-N)
- **2021-02-23** Title replaced 21200181D-H1
- **2021-02-25** Enrolled
- **2021-02-25** Signed by President
- **2021-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-01** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
- **2021-03-01** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
- **2021-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 253 (effective 7/1/21) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dd3655cd-c6fa-495c-94bf-23454bbb14d2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).