Do grandparents have rights in Arizona?
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Yes, the statute which controls this is A.R.S. 25-409. The parents must have been divorced at least 3 months, the grandparents’ child who is the parent must be missing or the child must be born out of wedlock. This seems to cover many situations, but the remainder of the statute gives other requirements for grandparents’ rights that often results in no visitation being granted. For example, the courts will consider the historical relationship of the child and the grandparents, so if the grandparents rarely saw the grandkids before the divorce, the courts will not change that setup. The court must also consider the motivation of the grandparents in seeking visits and the motivation of the parent who is prohibiting visits. If grandparents have been antagonistic to the primary custodial parent and the court worries that the grandparents might not speak kindly about the parent to the grandkids, the court might decide not to give visitation to the grandparents.
In general, if the grandchild’s parent is available, not in prison, not on active duty military, etc., then the grandparent’s best bet in getting visits with the grandkids is to keep a good relationship with the primary custodial parent, despite the divorce, so that the primary parent will encourage visits with grandparents. Or the second best bet is for the grandparents to help their own child obtain reasonable parenting time and then ask their child to allow them to visit during that child’s time. The grandparents’ rights statute does not help grandparents get the courts to force parents to let them see the grandkids when the parents and grandparents are in the midst of an ongoing personal feud, even if that feud is unfair to the grandparents.
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