questions & answers

Question: I have a 7 year old sister from my father and his ex-wife has custody. she hasn't let me even talk to her in about 3 1/2 years, except when I was with my father, but i don't live with my father and I was curious if i could file something in the courts to compel her to at least let me talk to her on the phone?

Answer:

A.R.S. section 25-409 (http://www.azleg.gov/ars/25/00409.htm) governs third party rights (rights of those who are not the legal guardians of the child, including sibling rights). It states that a person can petition the superior court for visitation if it finds that the visitations would be in the best interest of the child AND one 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 visitation, a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation of the legal parents is pending at the time the petition is filed.

If none of these factors is present, it may be that a petition for visitation will be denied. Siblings are typically not given any inherent rights when it comes to children.