Grandparents' Rights Article
Grandparents’ Rights– Visitation
Arizona Revised Statute 25-409 C-H talks about grandparents visitation rights – where a court has granted the grandparents the right to visitation time with their minor grandchildren.
The superior court may grant visitation rights during the child's minority on a finding that the visitation is in the child's best interests and that any of the following is true:
1. One of the legal parents is deceased or has been missing 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.
2. The child was born out of wedlock and the child's legal parents are not married to each other at the time the petition is filed.
3. For grandparent or great-grandparent visitation, the marriage of the parents of the child has been dissolved for at least three months.
4. For in loco parentis (Latin for “in the place of the parent”) visitation, a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation of the legal parents is pending at the pending at the time the petition is filed.
If filing the petition, the petitioner (this may be the grandparents) must provide notice of the proceeding, including a copy of the petition and any affidavits or other attachments and serve the notice following all Arizona rules of family law procedure to all of the following:
1. The child's legal parents.
2. A third party who possesses legal decision-making authority over the child or visitation rights.
3. The child's guardian or guardian ad litem.
4. A person or agency that possesses physical custody of the child or claims legal decision-making authority or visitation rights concerning the child.
5. Any other person or agency that has previously appeared in the action.
All visitation rights granted under this statute automatically terminate if the child is adopted or placed for adoption. If the child is removed from an adoptive placement, the court may reinstate the visitation rights. This subsection does not apply if the child is adopted by the spouse of a natural parent after the natural parent remarries.
To read this statute in full: http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/25/00409.htm
You can often contact your county clerk for information on forms to file.
If in Coconino: http://courts.yavapai.us/selfservicecenter/grandparent-visitation-petition/
In Maricopa: https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/sscDocs/packets/drgv1.pdf
In Pima: Ask the court clerk for the modification of third party and grandparent visitation forms.
Comments:
QUESTIONS
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how can a disabled person with limited income obtain legal counsel to visit his/her grandchild (raised by grandparents since birth)
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I have been raising my grandsons for almost seven years and two weeks ago their mom took them out of my home and I'm now having very limited time to see them. I am lucky to get to see them one day a week She's not been there for financial assistance or anything else I have supported both boys since the older one turned six months old. He is seven and my other grandson is five. Do I have any rights to either joint custody or visiting rights at all?
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Ok my son n his first baby mama when tto court the judge give him time with his son like tueaday n thursday from 2 to 5 n fridays over nite she never have follow those orders now sience he was a baby now he is 4 n he been living with me n his dad she have drop him off two months ago she dont call him or come see him ahe have two other kids but she dont do anything about my grandson i put him in school i get foodstamps for him in i clain him on my taxes my son ia going to California what can i do am scared she comes n takes him he said he dont want to go with his mom what can i do can u plz
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i would like to visit with my grand children but cps will not allow me to do so what can I do ? I need a lawyer can't afford one can't find anyone to help
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My wife is an adopted child, does that give my mother in law any rights? We currently have a 17 mo. old child together and are getting the finalization of a nasty divorce. The woman dislikes me and I feel she will negatively inflence my daughter.
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How much does it cost to file a restraining order, and what rights do grandparents have?
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So, for the first year of my son's life, I lived with my mother while raising my son.Now he's 2 and he has only lived with me... and the father is not on the birth certificate.The fathers parents see my son when I can bring him... I only have Sunday and Monday off and my son has had a consistent routine with days at daycare, coming home to eat etc... Apparently I voiced my concern that I would like to go to church with my son for his firsttime with them and the grandparent stated he would go file for rights to have whatever time he wanted with my son including over weekends...Is that true?
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my unwed son has 2year old that we have been sharing custody with the mothers parents.niether parent of child can take care of him so we share the responsibility. the mother and father have a drug problem and her parents now feel it is not safe for the child to be here.reason being because we knew of their daughters problem and did not tell them can we get that joint custody back again
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Our duaughter will not let us see our 2 yr old granddaughter. This may sound petty, and it is. It stems from a year ago, when we told her and her husband that they had to move out of our house. They had been living with us For over a year, with no plans to move forward any time soon. They were taking advantage, and their pets and they were destroying our house. They had a new baby, and we took care of her while they worked, and we worked also.. The time came that we had to tell them to go, after our daughter became verbally abusive to me one day. Are their rights for us at all?
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Can an order to appear be filed before the petition is actually served?
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