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Grandparents' Custody and Visitation Rights in Arizona
The state of Arizona recognizes the special role grandparents can play in the lives of their grandchildren. Accordingly, Arizona laws protect grandparents' relationships with their grandchildren through specific statutory provisions granting child custody or visitation rights to grandparents when it is appropriate.
July 16, 2011 /HomeFamily PR News/ -- The state of Arizona recognizes the special role grandparents can play in the lives of their grandchildren. Accordingly, Arizona laws protect grandparents' relationships with their grandchildren through specific statutory provisions granting child custody or visitation rights to grandparents when it is appropriate.
Grandparents' Custody Rights
The law presumes that a child's parents are the best people to raise the child, and it also recognizes their rights to parent their children. However, there are fairly limited circumstances in which a grandparent may be awarded custody of a grandchild instead of the parents.
First, a judge must find that the grandparent stands "in loco parentis" to the child, meaning that the child sees the grandparent as a parent because they have formed a meaningful parental relationship for a substantial amount of time. Second, the judge also must determine that it would be significantly detrimental to the child to remain in the parents' custody. In addition, before a grandparent may be awarded custody of a grandchild, one of the following must be true:
- One of the child's parents is dead
- The child's parents are not married to each other
- The child's parents are in the process of legal separation or divorce
If all these conditions are met, a grandparent may be awarded custody of a minor child if he or she proves by clear and convincing evidence that remaining or being placed in the custody of a parent is not in the best interest of the child.
Grandparents' Visitation Rights
For grandparents wishing to establish the legal right to visit their grandchildren but not seeking custody, court-ordered visitation is possible in Arizona. First and foremost, a grandparent must establish that visitation is in the child's best interest. If grandparent visitation is demonstrated to be in the best interest of the child, a judge may order visitation if one of the following is true:
- The child's parents have been divorced for at least three months
- One parent has been missing for at least three months
- The child was born out of wedlock
When evaluating whether grandparent visitation is in the best interest of the child, Arizona judges are required to consider several factors, including:
- The historical relationship between the grandparent and child
- The motivation of the grandparent to seek visitation
- The motivation of person denying the grandparent access to the child
- The amount of visitation time requested and how it might negatively impact the child's usual activities
- The benefit of maintaining an extended family relationship if one or both of the child's parents have passed away
If visitation rights are granted but the child is later placed for adoption, all grandparents' visitation rights will be terminated, unless the adoption is by a step-parent of the child.
If you have questions about grandparents' child custody and visitation rights, or are seeking to establish a legal right to visit or take care of your grandchild, call a family law attorney with experience in grandparents' rights cases to discuss your legal options.
Article provided by Bishop Law Office
Visit us at www.bishoplawoffice.com
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