Custody

In certain situations, a person other than a legal parent may petition the superior court for visitation with a child. The judge may grant visitation if the judge believes that visitation is in the best interests of the child and any one of the following are true:

1. One of the legal parents is dead or has been missing for at least three months (and 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; or
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.¹

In deciding whether to grant visitation to a third party, the court shall give special weight to the legal parents’ opinion of what serves their child’s best interests and consider all relevant factors including:

• The historical relationship, if any, between the child and the person seeking visitation;
• The motivation of the person seeking visitation;
• The motivation of the person denying visitation;
• The amount of visitation time requested and the possible negative impact that visitation will have on the child’s usual activities; and
• The benefit in maintaining an extended family relationship (if one or both of the child’s parents are dead).²

¹ A.R.S. § 25-409(C)
² A.R.S. § 25-409(E)