What are Grandparent’s Rights in Arizona?

Because of a special provision In the state of Arizona's family law, grandparents have certain rights to visitation even when one of the parents objects to such visitation. While this provision does give grandparents a better chance of being able to spend time with their grandchildren, there are a couple of hurdles in place that you'll have to overcome in order to establish these rights as a grandparent: 

• To begin, you will have to prove that the child's access to you is in that child's best interest. 
• Secondly, you will have to prove that even if the child's parent objects to visitation with you, the parent with the legal decision-making power may not know or understand that visiting with you is in the child's best interest in accordance with Arizona state laws that define “best interest of the child” as the legal standard used by the courts.

Based on current child custody law in Arizona, you must be able to prove by a 51% margin that the visitation between you and the child or Grandparents Rights to Custody is in the child's best interest when stacked up against the "preponderance of evidence."

Grandparent’s Visitation Rights in Arizona: What You Need to Know

When it comes to Visitation Rights of Grandparents and Visitation Rights of Great Grandparents, Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) §25-409 states that the Superior Court must find that any and all visitation between grandparent or great grandparent and child is in the best interest of that child — as previously stated — but the following will also have to be true and accurate, and provable in a court of law: 

• The dissolution of marriage between the child's parents must have taken place a minimum of three months prior, or a parent of that child must have been deceased for a minimum of three months, or must have been missing (defined as the location of the parent cannot and has not been determined and that parent has by law been reported missing through a law enforcement agency) for a period of three months or greater.
• When attempting to determine what, in fact, is actually in the child's best interest by the letter of the law, the statute also mandates that "The Court shall consider all relevant factors," including:
  • What is the history between the child in question and the grandparent petitioning for grandparent's rights to visitation in Arizona? 
  • What is the grandparent's motivation for requesting visitation with the child in question? 
  • What is the motivation of the parent denying the visitation from the grandparent? 
  • How much time is the grandparent requesting to spend with the child, and what, if any, could be the adverse effects of that visitation on the child? 
  • If both of the child's parents are deceased, what might be the benefit of an ongoing visitation and building of a relationship between grandparent and grandchild?

The same questions must also be answered for any great grandparents visitation rights to be granted as well.

How the Barreda Law Firm Can Help with Grandparent’s Rights in Visitation, Custody, and Adoption.

At the Barreda Law Firm, we also understand that you may be fighting for more than visitation rights with your grandchild. If you wish to have sole custody, partial custody, or if you wish to adopt the child, the Barreda Law Firm can help you with these endeavors as well. 

Our team of compassionate and experienced Arizona family law attorneys and paralegals will work hard to build a strong case for your child visitation, child custody, or adoption trial in court. We understand the difficult and complex nature of fighting to overcome presumptions to prove that you deserve to spend time with your grandchild. Let us fight for you. To get started, dial (480) 438-8014 today.