Grandparents And Visitation
A.R.S. 25-409 — a petition only in listed circumstances, and special weight to the parents' view
In Arizona, a person other than a legal parent may petition the superior court for visitation with a child. The court may grant visitation during the child's minority on finding it in the child's best interests and that one of these is true:
- One legal parent has died, or has been missing at least three months after being reported missing to law enforcement.
- The child was born out of wedlock and the legal parents are not married to each other when the petition is filed.
- For a grandparent or great grandparent, the parents' marriage has been dissolved for at least three months.
Special weight to the parents. In deciding, the court gives special weight to the legal parents' opinion of what serves their child's best interests, and considers the historical relationship with the child, the motives of the person asking and of the person objecting, the time requested and its effect on the child's activities, and, where a parent has died, the benefit of keeping an extended family relationship.
The petition is verified or supported by affidavit with detailed facts, and notice goes to the legal parents and anyone else with decision making, visitation or custody. Legal decision making, as opposed to visitation, is open to a non parent only in narrower cases, and a legal parent is presumed to serve the child's best interests unless the presumption is rebutted by clear and convincing evidence.
The full conditions for a non parent's legal decision making are in the section and are not reproduced here. Whether a petition can go forward is a question for the court and for a licensed Arizona attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- A.R.S. 25-409 — Third party rights
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Arizona attorney.