{"id":2932,"date":"2019-06-22T16:04:17","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T23:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/?p=2932"},"modified":"2019-11-23T22:26:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T05:26:35","slug":"grandparent-and-step-parent-visitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/22\/grandparent-and-step-parent-visitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandparent and Step-Parent Visitation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am regularly asked by my grandparent clients whether they can seek court-ordered visitation with their grandchildren.\u00a0 In most cases, the answer is \u201cyes, you can.\u201d\u00a0 But whether grandparents <em>should <\/em>seek court-ordered visitation is another matter entirely.<\/p>\n<p>A.R.S. \u00a725-409(C) allows the court to award a grandparent visitation with a grandchild when the court finds that the visitation would be in the child\u2019s best interests <em>and<\/em> that <em>one<\/em> of the following is true:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the legal parents is deceased or has been missing for at least three months;<\/li>\n<li>The child was born out of wedlock and the child\u2019s legal parents are not married to each other at the time the petition is filed; <em>or<\/em><\/li>\n<li>The marriage of the parents of the child has been dissolved for at least three months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In deciding whether grandparent visitation is in a child\u2019s best interests, the court is required to give \u201cspecial weight&#8221; to the legal parents\u2019 opinion of what serves their child\u2019s best interests and consider all relevant factors\u201d, including five specific factors enumerated in A.R.S. \u00a725-409(E)(1-5).<\/p>\n<p>This area of the law can be rather technical and tricky.\u00a0 Maybe for that reason, unfortunately, some grandparents get so caught up in determining whether they <em>can <\/em>pursue court-ordered visitation that they fail to consider whether they <em>should<\/em>. \u00a0Before initiating a legal action to obtain grandparent visitation rights, grandparents should carefully consider the potential impact the lawsuit may have on their child (the parent of their grandchildren) and on the grandchildren themselves.<\/p>\n<p>It would certainly be appropriate for grandparents to seek court-ordered visitation where their child has passed away and the surviving parent is refusing to allow visitation.\u00a0 Absent unusual circumstances, it is almost always in a child\u2019s best interests to continue to have a relationship with the deceased parent\u2019s side of the family.<\/p>\n<p>Where both biological parents are living, however, bringing a grandparent visitation case can often destroy a grandparent\u2019s relationship with her own biological child, the parent of the grandchild in question.\u00a0 When a grandparent files a grandparent visitation case, <em>she is suing her own child<\/em> in addition to the other parent.\u00a0 <strong>Both parents are adverse parties.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most parents don\u2019t take kindly to being sued by their own mother or father for visitation with their children.\u00a0 Litigation of any kind between a parent and a child can cause deep familial divides.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to imagine any litigation by a parent against her own adult child that would be more offensive to the adult child than a case to forcibly take away time with a grandchild.<\/p>\n<p>With few exceptions, the better approach is one of reconciliation, love and support.\u00a0 Instead of suing or threatening to sue for visitation rights, grandparents should make every effort to establish a positive and supportive relationship with the parents of their grandchildren.\u00a0 When parents see the grandparents as a support and a help rather than a threat, parents are more likely to allow the grandparents time with the grandchild voluntarily.\u00a0 Grandparents who aren\u2019t a threat to their grandchildren\u2019s parents are more likely to be allowed (by the child&#8217;s parents) to babysit, to have overnights and to have a greater role in their grandchildren\u2019s lives than grandparents who sue for grandparent visitation rights in court.<\/p>\n<p>Step-parents may also be able to seek and obtain visitation rights with their step-children following a divorce or the death of the biological-parent spouse.\u00a0 Because of the lack of any biological or adoptive relationship, the jurisdictional requirements for step-parent visitation are somewhat different than those for grandparent visitation, and exploring those requirements is not the focus of this article.\u00a0 When a step-parent sues for visitation, the step-parent is not suing a family member as in a grandparent visitation case, but even step-parents should attempt to obtain access to their step-children by cooperation and discussion before rushing into a step-parent visitation lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019 Update:\u00a0<\/strong> The trend in Arizona is for courts to not disturb the decision of a &#8220;fit parent&#8221; as to whether to allow visitation to a grandparent or a third party.\u00a0 It is becoming increasingly difficult for grandparents and other third parties to win court-ordered visitation or custody rights in Arizona.\u00a0 To discuss the facts of your specific case, please contact my office to schedule a consultation.<\/p>\n<p>In sum, grandparents and step-parents are entitled to pursue visitation rights in Arizona when certain jurisdictional requirements are met.\u00a0 Grandparents and step-parents should view the courts as a \u201clast resort\u201d, however, and should make every attempt to arrange for visitation informally before initiating litigation.\u00a0 It is becoming increasingly difficult for grandparents and other third parties to win court-ordered visitation rights in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2016, 2019 by Scoresby Family Law \u2013 J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am regularly asked by my grandparent clients whether they can seek court-ordered visitation with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[244,224,225,222,223,100],"class_list":["post-2932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grandparents-rights","tag-adverse-parties","tag-childs-best-interests","tag-court-ordered-visitation","tag-grandparent-visitation","tag-step-parent-visitation","tag-visitation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grandparent and Step-Parent Visitation - Arizona Divorce &amp; Family Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/22\/grandparent-and-step-parent-visitation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grandparent and Step-Parent Visitation - Arizona Divorce &amp; 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