{"id":3073,"date":"2017-11-30T22:52:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T05:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2019-11-23T22:26:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T05:26:35","slug":"third-party-grandparent-custody-and-visitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/30\/third-party-grandparent-custody-and-visitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Party \/ Grandparent Custody and Visitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents are always favored in child custody disputes with third parties.\u00a0 In certain cases, however, Arizona law does allow grandparents and other third parties to seek<\/em> custody of or visitation with a child.\u00a0 This post will address third party custody, third party visitation, and the current legal trend in Arizona relative to third party rights.<\/p>\n

Third Party Custody.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Under A.R.S. Section 25-409.A., when certain procedural requirements are met, a third party who stands in “loco parentis” to a child may seek legal decision-making authority and primary placement of the child.\u00a0 In Latin, in “loco parentis” means\u00a0“in place of a parent.”\u00a0 A third party who stands in loco parentis to a child is someone who, although not the child’s natural or legal parent, “has been treated as a parent by a child and who has formed a meaningful parental relationship with a child for a substantial period of time.”\u00a0 A.R.S. Sec. 25-401.1.<\/p>\n

For example, a grandmother\u00a0would likely\u00a0have an in loco parentis relationship with her grandchild if the child had been living with and raised by the grandmother–with the parents absent or mostly absent–for over a year.\u00a0 A grandmother who simply visits frequently with a grandchild and has the grandchild for a sleepover occasionally does not have an in loco parentis relationship with the grandchild.<\/p>\n

Even when an in loco parentis relationship exists and\u00a0the other procedural requirements of the statute are satisfied, it is extremely difficult for a third party to win custody.\u00a0 Under A.R.S. Section 25-409.B. there is a legal presumption that awarding custody to a legal parent is in the child’s best interests.\u00a0 This presumption can only be overcome by “clear and convincing evidence” that awarding custody to the legal parent is not in the child’s best interests.\u00a0 In simple terms, the in loco parentis third party must show things would be really, really\u00a0<\/em>bad for the child if the child were placed or remained with the legal parent.\u00a0 As I said in the first line of this post, the parent is always favored.\u00a0 Winning custody for the in loco parentis third party is a tall order indeed.<\/p>\n

I used the example of a grandparent as the in loco parentis third party because, often, it is a grandparent who has the in loco parentis relationship that is prerequisite to bringing a third party custody case.\u00a0 But grandparents who stand in loco parentis to their grandchildren should think long and hard before initiating a grandparent custody case.\u00a0 Just because you\u00a0can<\/em> do something doesn’t mean you\u00a0should.<\/em><\/p>\n

Suing your own daughter and son-in-law for custody could easily cause your daughter to be estranged from you for life.\u00a0 Is it worth it?\u00a0 Would a better approach be to offer support and help to your grandchild’s parents?\u00a0 To be a resource to them?\u00a0 A babysitter for them?\u00a0 If you don’t try to use the legal system to take away their children, will they be more likely to voluntarily<\/em> allow you to be in your grandchild’s life?\u00a0 Some circumstances certainly do justify a grandparent or other third party in seeking custody of another person’s child, but I encourage my clients to consider other approaches before filing a third party custody case.<\/p>\n

Third Party Visitation.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Any third party who has an in loco parentis relationship with a child (e.g., a step-parent after a divorce from the natural parent) may seek<\/em>\u00a0visitation with a child under A.R.S. Section 25-409.C. when certain facts and procedural requirements are met.\u00a0 A grandparent or great-grandparent may seek<\/em> visitation even without an in loco parentis relationship when those facts and procedural requirements are satisfied.\u00a0\u00a0Id.<\/em>\u00a0 Why do I keep italicizing the word “seek”?\u00a0 Because\u00a0seeking<\/em> and\u00a0winning<\/em> are two different things entirely.<\/p>\n

It is extremely difficult for a third party to win visitation rights.\u00a0 A.R.S. Section 25-409.E. indicates the factors the judge is to consider in deciding a third party visitation case, but here’s the kicker.\u00a0 The court must give “special weight” to the legal parents’ opinion of what serves their child’s best interests.\u00a0 While this language on its own seems rather benign, a 2016 Arizona Court of Appeals case has interpreted this language to mean that, if the legal parents are fit, the third party seeking visitation “must prove that

[the parents’] decision to deny visitation would substantially impair the child’s best interests.”\u00a0\u00a0Goodman v. Forsen<\/em>, 239 Ariz. 110, 366 P.3d 587 (App., Div. 1, 2016).\u00a0 Translation<\/strong><\/em>: unless you can prove the child’s legal parents are unfit, you’re probably not going to get visitation.<\/p>\n

Legal Trends.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 I believe the major trend in Arizona relative to third party rights is illustrated by the\u00a0Goodman<\/em> case,\u00a0supra.<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0When the concept of grandparent and third party rights surfaced years ago, the pendulum swung too far in favor of allowing third party custody and visitation.\u00a0 Goodman<\/em> shows there is now a strong trend away from third party rights.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Arizona, moving forward, fit parents will be able to make decisions regarding who their children see and do not see.\u00a0 The law is increasingly disfavoring<\/em>\u00a0visitation rights for third parties when the child’s parents are fit and decide not to allow visitation.\u00a0 Obtaining third party or grandparent visitation in Arizona will be extremely difficult unless the legislature changes the third party visitation statute or the Arizona Supreme Court overrules\u00a0Goodman.<\/em>\u00a0 Awarding a third party custody or visitation\u00a0rights will be reserved primarily for those rare situations where the third party has an in loco parentis relationship with the child\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>where the parents are proven to be unfit.<\/p>\n

I will note, however, that since\u00a0Goodman<\/em> was decided, Division Two of the Court of Appeals has upheld an award of grandparent visitation on facts it found to be distinguishable from those in\u00a0Goodman.\u00a0 See Friedman v. Roels,\u00a0<\/em>2 CA-CV 2016-0029 (Ariz. Ct. App. June 19, 2017).<\/p>\n

Another trend I believe will be to “clean up” laws relative to same-sex spouses that are unconstitutional but still on the books.\u00a0 \u00a0And the only reason I address it in this post is because it applies to persons who used<\/em>\u00a0to be treated as third parties and now should not be–specifically the wives of women who have children during a same-sex marriage.\u00a0 Despite gay marriage being legal nationwide\u00a0for over two years now, some statutes remain which do not, by their terms, provide same sex-spouses the same protections as opposite-sex spouses.\u00a0 These statutes are all probably unconstitutional and will likely be either rewritten by state legislatures or extended by court decisions to apply to same-sex couples as well as heterosexual couples.<\/p>\n

An example is Arizona’s paternity statute–A.R.S. Section 25-814(A)(1), which creates a presumption that a man is a child’s legal father if the child is born to his wife during their marriage.\u00a0 In a recent case, the Arizona Supreme Court\u00a0 extended this presumption to apply equally to the wife<\/em> of a woman who gives birth to a child during marriage.\u00a0 \u00a0McLaughlin v. Hon. Lori B. Jones<\/em>, CV-16-0266-PR (September 19, 2017).\u00a0 \u00a0Under McLaughlin, <\/em>when both spouses in a same-sex marriage consent to and participate in the artificial insemination process and intend to have a child together,\u00a0the wife of the birth mother has all the legal rights of a parent.\u00a0 She is not relegated to seek visitation as a third party.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2017 J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

 

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