Executive Summary
- A grandparent can petition for visitation if the child’s parents’ marriage has been dissolved for at least three months due to divorce or death or if the child was born out of wedlock and the parents remain unmarried.
- Arizona courts prioritize the child’s best interests when deciding whether to grant visitation to grandparents. Displaying a meaningful pre-existing grandparent-grandchild relationship is also important.
- In most cases, parental rights take precedence over grandparents, forbidding the grandparent from overriding parental decisions.
- You should contact a reliable family law attorney for help compiling documents and filing a petition for visitation rights. Your attorney may also be able to help you seek legal recourse if your visitation rights are initially denied.
Learning About Visitation Rights for Grandparents in Arizona
Many grandparents play a significant role in their grandchild’s life, providing emotional support and stability during their upbringing. However, when family dynamics change from unfortunate events like divorce or the death of a parent, grandparents may feel cut off from their grandchildren. For anyone facing these challenges, it’s essential to understand Arizona grandparents’ rights, especially if they are seeking court-ordered visitation.
To be eligible for grandparent visitation rights in Arizona, the grandparent has to show proof of a substantial relationship with the child and explain how visitation is in the child’s best interest. In addition to considering the child’s needs and the grandparent’s involvement in their life, the court may also assess whether the grandparent will respect the parent’s authority before authorizing visitation because parents’ rights usually take precedence over grandparents’ rights in Arizona.
If you need help submitting a petition for visitation rights, contact a qualified family law attorney. They may also be able to help you seek legal recourse if you submitted a petition that was denied.
Arizona Laws on Grandparents’ Visitation Rights
In Arizona, grandparent visitation rules are outlined by ARS 25-409, which breaks down third-party rights to a child. This law allows grandparents to petition for visitation rights of their grandchild under certain conditions, offering a legal pathway to maintain their relationship.
Required Circumstances for Petitioning for Visitation
Grandparents may be able to request visitation rights from an Arizona family law court if they meet specific conditions. Some examples of potential requirements are:
- The child’s parents are divorced or legally separated for at least three months.
- One of the parents has been missing or deceased for at least three months.
- The child was born out of wedlock, and the parents are still unmarried.
In addition to confirming the situational requirements mentioned above, you should gauge if your individualized grandparent-grandchild relationship is eligible.
Eligibility Criteria for Grandparents
Even if circumstances like the child’s parents’ marital status seem to warrant visitation rights, the grandparent should be able to prove they have a pre-existing relationship that benefits the child’s well-being to ensure eligibility. So, you should gather the following resources to back your claim.
Evidence Supporting a Pre-Existing Substantial Relationship
In most cases, grandparents must show they have a meaningful relationship with the child for their petition to succeed. Some examples of evidence a grandparent can gather to support this claim are:
- Photos or videos showing regular visits and their attendance at family events.
- Records of the grandparent attending the child’s school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, musical performances or sports games.
- Medical documentation showing that the grandparent accompanied the child to doctor’s appointments or provided care during an illness.
- Cards, letters or gifts exchanged between the grandparent and the grandchild that show consistent communication.
- Financial records showing the grandparent facilitated the child’s upbringing by paying for school fees, extracurricular activities or healthcare expenses.
- Scheduling logs or daycare pickup and drop-off records that show the grandparent frequently babysat or provided childcare.
- Statements from neighbors, friends or other family members that attest to the grandparent’s active involvement in the grandchild’s life.
If a grandparent supplies some of the materials mentioned above, courts can better understand their involvement in the child’s life. This can make it easier for the court to make an informed, fair decision about visitation rights.
Explanation of How It Would Support the Child’s Well-Being
When it comes to visitation rights, the court’s main goal should be to prioritize the child’s well-being above all else. To do this, the court should consider other factors in addition to the existing relationship between the child and the grandparent. Some factors that ARS 25-409 asks the court to consider before awarding third-party visitation are:
- The reasons why the grandparent is seeking visitation.
- How the grandparent’s requested visitation rights would impact the child’s relationship with their parents.
- The ways visitation would affect the child’s emotional and physical needs.
By evaluating considerations like the ones above, the court can determine if it is in the child’s best interest to grant grandparent visitation rights. Still, the decision-making process can be thorough and time-consuming, making it essential to know what to expect.
How the Court Determines Visitation
After confirming the grandparent’s eligibility to file the petition in the first place, the court may schedule a hearing to learn more about the unique situation. The following steps may be involved in the determination of visitation.
Assessing the Child’s Best Interests
As stated earlier, this step is the main focus of Arizona family law. Some examples of things the court will review to get an idea of how grandparent visitation would contribute to or take away from the child’s best interests are:
- The historical relationship between the child and the grandparent.
- The amount of visitation time requested and the potential adverse impact that time will have on the child’s usual activities.
- The benefit of maintaining an extended family relationship, mainly if one or both of the child’s parents are deceased.
By looking into the components above, the court can have a better idea of how grandparent visitation rights will impact the child’s physical and emotional needs, potentially giving them answers to questions like “Will the child feel like they are losing a substantial relationship without their grandparent around?” and “Will visitation rights cause the child to be transported too frequently or far that it impacts their health or schooling?”
Hearing Out Parental Objections
When deciding whether to grant visitation rights to a third party like a grandparent, the court shall greatly consider the child’s parents’ opinions of what serves their child’s best interests.
If at least one of the parents objects, the court shall investigate the motivation behind the objection. For example, if the parent believes the grandparents’ visitation rights could endanger the child or hinder their development, the court may not approve the grandparents’ petition.
Knowing what the court will likely consider is important, but applying this information to your individualized case can be challenging without professional legal guidance. Consult a trusted family law attorney to learn what may be analyzed in your visitation hearing.
How to Petition for Grandparents’ Visitation in Arizona
Moreover, having legal counsel you can rely on is the best way to ensure you successfully file a petition for grandparents’ visitation, especially considering the required steps may vary based on your county.
Some steps that are usually required for filing for visitation rights in Maricopa County are:
- Complete the family department sensitive data cover sheet by providing information about the petitioner, respondent and any children involved.
- If it is a new case, fill out the summons, including your details and the names of the child’s parents or legal guardians. You must ensure each individual parent or guardian receives their own summons.
- If there’s an existing case, fill out an Order to Appear by inputting your details and those of the other parties involved. Similar to a summons, each party should receive their own Order to Appear.
- Provide additional details about the child or children, including your relationship and visitation plan.
- Specify the legal reasons you are requesting visitation per Arizona law, explaining why visitation is in the child or children’s best interests.
- If applicable, attach any relevant legal orders from previous cases involving the children.
After completing the steps above, the grandparent must sign the petition before a notary or court clerk. After signing and notarization are finished and all necessary documents are attached, the completed forms can be filed with the Maricopa County Superior Court.
The Role of Mediation
As illustrated above, officially filing for visitation rights can be demanding—it can also be expensive and strain the family dynamic. Thankfully, rule 68 of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure allows and occasionally requires mediation in some child custody and visitation cases. In some situations, mediation may be a viable way to avoid going to court for visitation rights, potentially saving you from the emotional, temporal and financial burden of family law hearings.
Having an unbiased legal professional perform alternative dispute resolution can make it easier for all parties involved to discuss and reach an agreement in a less adversarial setting. A qualified legal team may be able to draft and solidify a deal following the mediation process, delivering straightforward rules about visitation. Still, if both parties cannot agree during mediation, the matter may have to go to court.
When Visitation is Typically Granted
Although there are plenty of reasons a court may grant visitation to a third party, the most common situations where grandparent visitation is granted are:
- Divorce or legal separation of the parents – Courts usually recognize the potential loss of stability during these types of family transitions, potentially making them more likely to allow grandparents to see their grandchildren.
- Death of one parent – If one parent is deceased, courts may grant visitation to a grandparent to ensure the child maintains a connection with the deceased parent’s side of the family.
- Unmarried parents – Some children with unmarried parents lack familial stability, urging courts to allow visitation rights to eligible grandparents. This can allow children to feel more connected to their extended family.
Although the circumstances above can result in a court approving visitation rights, each situation is different and may have additional reasoning behind its final ruling.
Limitations on Grandparents’ Visitation Rights
Even if grandparent visitation is granted, there may be some limitations to their court-ordered rights. All parties need to understand these potential limitations to avoid having to settle future disputes using family law. Some restrictions on grandparent’s visitation rights include:
- Parental rights take precedence – Courts are careful not to infringe on parents’ legal rights to make decisions for their children unless they have been labeled unfit to do so in a separate family law case.
- Grandparents must respect the parents’ authority – Grandparents’ visitation rights cannot interfere with the parent-child relationship. Visitation must be scheduled in a way that respects the parent’s decisions and authority.
To circumvent the restrictions mentioned above and attempt to obtain full custody of the child, the grandparent should skip requesting visitation rights and hire a child custody lawyer instead.
What to Do if Visitation is Denied
If visitation is denied, you must respond legally. Do not take the child without permission, or you may end up facing criminal charges for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment or custodial interference under ARS 33-1304, ARS 13-1303 and ARS 13-1302, respectively. Instead, work through the following steps with a qualified attorney.
Seeking Legal Recourse
Depending on the context of your case, you may be able to appeal the decision or file a new petition. Going this route may require proof that there has been a substantial change in circumstances that have the potential to affect the child’s well-being. For example, the child’s relationship with their parents may have deteriorated, or the grandparent-grandchild bond has strengthened. Having new evidence is crucial to approving an appeal or new petition.
Modifying Visitation Orders
In certain circumstances, grandparents can request changes to existing visitation arrangements if they believe modifications will better serve the child’s interests. Like filing the initial petition, each county’s process for modifying visitation orders can change. So, getting an attorney’s advice and guidance on this change is crucial before involving the courts.
JacksonWhite Law Can Help with Visitation Rights
Understanding Arizona grandparents’ rights is crucial when requesting visitation time with your grandchild. For a grandparent to file a petition, the child’s parents must have a dissolved marriage for at least three months due to divorce or death, or the child must have been born out of wedlock by parents who are still unmarried.
Before solidifying grandparent visitation rights in Arizona, courts must weigh many factors, ranging from the grandparent’s relationship with the child to potential objections from the parents. The petition filing process and corresponding court hearings can be challenging without the advocacy of an experienced lawyer.
The compassionate yet aggressive family law attorneys at JacksonWhite Law have substantial experience helping grandparents and other third parties request visitation rights. We can help you navigate the complexities of grandparents’ rights in Arizona and make it easier to achieve the best possible outcome for your case.
Call the JacksonWhite family law team at (480) 467-4348 for tailored assistance while requesting court-ordered visitation.
