My kid’s ex-spouse won’t let me see my grandkids – what are my grandparents rights in Arizona?
There really is no short answer to that question when divorce is involved. With the divorce rate currently at 46% in the U.S. (second only to Sweden at 55%) it is more and more likely that your kids may have had to deal with this difficult life event, which might leave you in an uncomfortable position when you want to spend time with their little ones.
I hope, if one or more of your kids have had to deal with divorce, that it was as amicable as possible and everyone can still get along. However, I think we all know that is often not the case. With emotions and stakes running high, divorce can get ugly, especially and unfortunately when kids are involved. High net worth divorce as well? That just makes things trickier.
Thankfully, grandparents rights in Arizona lean towards favoring you and may allow you the ability to ensure visitation with your grandchildren whether their parents are happy about it or not. It’s important to note that visitation is a very different thing than legal decision-making and relatively easier to gain. Discussion of legal decision-making is better left for another post, especially considering that as of January 1, 2013 changes enacted by the State Legislature will become effective, combining “grandparents’ rights” with “in loco parentis rights” – both of which can now be found in ARS 25-409 and is entitled “Third-Party Rights”.
Unlike several states that require one or both of the child’s parents to be deceased in order to award visitation rights to grandparents, Arizona does not require this in determining whether a grandparent is entitled to visitation, an Arizona court will look to A.R.S. 25-409 for guidance. A finding that visitation is in the child’s best interest is a prerequisite as always. What is in a child’s “best interest” is dependent upon several factors, and trust me, the analysis can be quite subjective. A skillful attorney can assist a grandparent in coming up with effective ways to address each factor.
There is a lot of room for interpretation and the Court considers such things as whether one of the legal parents are deceased or have been missing for 3 months and whether the marriage of the parents has been dissolved for at least 3 months. Interestingly, a court will also look to whether the child was born out of wedlock. When considering whether to afford a grandparent visitation, the Court will give special consideration to things such as the historical relationship between the grandparent and child, the grandparent’s motivation in seeking visitation, whether the biological parents are deceased and the quantity of the visitation requested.
What you should know is that as a grandparent who loves their grandchildren and has been involved in a positive way in their lives, you have rights. It is worth claiming those rights to continue to maintain your relationship with them.
More questions about grandparents rights in Arizona? Contact Kaine Fisher today at 480-240-5649
