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Arizona Grandparents Visitation Law

Divorce – Grandparents Visitation – Arizona

Visitation rights of grandparents and great-grandparents
The superior court may grant the grandparents of the child reasonable visitation rights to the child during his minority on a finding that the visitation rights would be in the best interests of the child and any of the following are true:

The marriage of the parents of the child has been dissolved for at least three months.

A parent of the child has been deceased or has been missing for at least three months. For the purposes of this paragraph, a parent is considered to be 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.

The superior court may grant the great-grandparents of the child reasonable visitation rights on a finding that the great-grandparents would be entitled to such rights under subsection A if the great-grandparents were grandparents of the child.

In deciding whether to grant visitation to a third party, the court shall give special weight to the legal parents’ opinion of what serves their child’s best interests and consider all relevant factors including:

The historical relationship, if any, between the child and the person seeking visitation.

The motivation of the requesting party seeking visitation.

The motivation of the person objecting to visitation.

The quantity of visitation time requested and the potential adverse impact that visitation will have on the child’s customary activities.

If one or both of the child’s parents are deceased, the benefit in maintaining an extended family relationship.

If logistically possible and appropriate, the court shall order visitation by a grandparent or great-grandparent if the child is residing or spending time with the parent through whom the grandparent or great-grandparent claims a right of access to the child. If a parent is unable to have the child reside or spend time with that parent, the court shall order visitation by a grandparent or great-grandparent to occur when that parent would have had that opportunity.

A grandparent or great-grandparent seeking visitation rights under this section shall petition 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, as defined in section 25-1002.

All visitation rights granted under this section automatically terminate if the child is adopted or placed for adoption. If the child is removed from an adoptive placement, the court may reinstate the visitation rights. This subsection does not apply if the child is adopted by the spouse of a natural parent after the natural parent remarries.

Title 25, Chap. 4, Art. 1, §25-409


Inside Arizona Grandparents Visitation Law