Do grandparents have visitation rights in Arizona?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes — conditionally. The superior court may grant visitation rights to a grandparent or great-grandparent during the child's minority, but only on a finding that the visitation is in the child's best interests and that at least one of the following is true :

- One of the legal parents is deceased or has been missing for at least three months — a parent counts as "missing" if the parent's location has not been determined and the parent has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency .
- The child was born out of wedlock and the child's legal parents are not married to each other at the time the petition is filed .
- For grandparent or great-grandparent visitation specifically, the marriage of the child's parents has been dissolved for at least three months .
- For in loco parentis visitation, a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation of the legal parents is pending at the time the petition is filed .

The legal parents' wishes carry significant weight. In deciding whether to grant third-party visitation, the court must give special weight to the legal parents' opinion of what serves their child's best interests, and must consider all relevant factors — including the historical relationship between the child and the person seeking visitation, the motivation of the requesting party, the motivation of the person objecting, the quantity of time requested and its potential adverse impact on the child's customary activities, and, if a parent is deceased, the benefit of maintaining an extended family relationship . For third-party petitions seeking legal decision-making authority, there is additionally a rebuttable presumption that awarding legal decision-making to a legal parent serves the child's best interests, which a third party may overcome only with clear and convincing evidence .

Procedural and scope points. The petition must be verified or supported by affidavit with detailed facts, and notice must be served on the child's legal parents and other specified interested persons . A grandparent or great-grandparent petitions in the same action in which the family court previously decided legal decision-making and parenting time or, if no such case existed, by separate petition in the county of the child's home state . If logistically possible and appropriate, the court shall order grandparent or great-grandparent visitation when the child is residing or spending time with the parent through whom the grandparent or great-grandparent claims a right of access . All visitation rights granted under this section automatically terminate if the child is adopted or placed for adoption — though the court may reinstate them if the child is removed from an adoptive placement, and this termination rule does not apply when the child is adopted by the spouse of a natural parent after that parent remarries .

This is general information, not legal advice; for a specific situation, consult a licensed Arizona attorney.