Custody

New Mexico has a “Grandparent’s Visitation Privileges” law that allows a grandparent to petition for visitation in certain circumstances. Under this law, a grandparent can petition for visitation if any of the following are true:

• the child’s parents are divorced and visitation would not interfere with the child’s education or the parent’s visitation;
• one or both of the child’s parents are deceased;
• the child is less than six years of age and lived with the grandparent for at least three months;
• the child is older than six years of age and lived with the grandparent for at least six months; or
• the child has been adopted by a relative, a person chosen in a deceased parent’s will, or a godparent.¹

When a grandparent files for visitation, a judge is allowed to order mediation to see if the parties might be able to work out an agreement for grandparent visitation.²

If an agreement is not worked out through mediation, the judge can grant visitation if the s/he decides that visitation with the grandparent is in the child’s best interest.³ To decide if the grandparent should have visitation rights, the judge has to asses:

• the best interests of the child;
• the prior interaction between the child and the grandparent;
• the past and present relationship between the parents and the grandparent;
• any visitation arrangements that were in place before the petition was filed;
• the effect the visitation will have on the child;
• whether the grandparent has any prior convictions for abuse or neglect; and
• if the grandparent has been a full-time caretaker for the child for a significant period.⁴

If the judge decides visitation is not in the child’s best interest and denies the request for visitation, s/he might still order some other reasonable form of contact like, mail, telephone, or some other means.³

¹ N.M. Stat. § 40-9-2(A)-(E)
² N.M. Stat. § 40-9-2(H)
³ N.M. Stat. § 40-9-2(I)
⁴ N.M. Stat. § 40-9-2(G)