diff --git a/get_ancestor_tasks.js b/get_ancestor_tasks.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..683d7f3d4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/get_ancestor_tasks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/**
+ * getAncestorTasks — Return an array of parent task records up the chain.
+ * @param {String} tableName — the name of the task table (e.g. “incident”)
+ * @param {String} sysId — sys_id of the starting record
+ * @param {Number} maxDepth — optional maximum depth to prevent infinite loops
+ * @returns {GlideRecord[]} — array of ancestor GlideRecord objects, ordered from immediate parent up to root
+ */
+function getAncestorTasks(tableName, sysId, maxDepth = 10) {
+    var ancestors = [];
+    var seen = {};
+    var depth = 0;
+
+    var gr = new GlideRecord(tableName);
+    if (!gr.get(sysId)) {
+        return ancestors;  // no starting record
+    }
+
+    while (gr.parent && gr.parent.toString() && depth < maxDepth) {
+        var parentId = gr.parent.toString();
+        if (seen[parentId]) {
+            gs.warn("getAncestorTasks: detected cycle at " + parentId);
+            break;
+        }
+        seen[parentId] = true;
+
+        var parentGr = new GlideRecord(tableName);
+        if (!parentGr.get(parentId)) {
+            gs.warn("getAncestorTasks: parent record not found: " + parentId);
+            break;
+        }
+        ancestors.push(parentGr);
+        gr = parentGr;
+        depth++;
+    }
+    return ancestors;
+}