Grandparent Rights
Pursuant to ARS § 25-409, a court may grant the grandparents of the child reasonable visitation rights to the child during the child's minority on a finding that the visitation rights would be in the best interests of the child and any of the following is true:
- The marriage of the parents of the child has been dissolved for at least three months.
- A parent of the child has been deceased or has been missing for at least three months. For the purposes of this paragraph, a parent is considered to be missing if the parent's location has not been determined and the parent has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.
- The child was born out of wedlock.
A court may grant the great-grandparents of the child reasonable visitation rights on a finding that the great-grandparents would be entitled to such rights under subsection A if the great-grandparents were grandparents of the child.
In determining the child's best interests the court shall consider all relevant factors, including:
- The historical relationship, if any, between the child and the person seeking visitation.
- The motivation of the requesting party in seeking visitation.
- The motivation of the person denying visitation.
- The quantity of visitation time requested and the potential adverse impact that visitation will have on the child's customary activities.
- If one or both of the child's parents are dead, the benefit in maintaining an extended family relationship.
If logistically possible and appropriate, the court shall order visitation by a grandparent or great-grandparent to occur when the child is residing or spending time with the parent through whom the grandparent or great-grandparent claims a right of access to the child. If a parent is unable to have the child reside or spend time with that parent, the court shall order visitation by a grandparent or great-grandparent to occur when that parent would have had that opportunity.
