Great Grandparents Need Visitation Rights Too

We have all heard of Grandparent rights, but what about the rights for great grandparents? Do they have a right to enforce their rights to visit their great grandchildren? Perhaps even more important, is enforcement the best way to see children? We think that using mediation is a far better way to reach an amicable way to arrange for both sides to make visitation a party rather than a fight every time it needs to happen.

Arizona is nearly unique in that it is specifically grants great-grandparents the same visitation rights as grandparents. Those rights are, however, fairly rigidly defined. One of these conditions must be met: the marriage of the parents of the child must have been dissolved for at least three months, a parent must be deceased, a parent must have been officially declared missing for at least three months or the child must have been born out of wedlock.

If parents or guardians encourage or at least allow great grandparents to visit their grandchildren, then no formal process is required. But when a great grandparent (or other nonparent) approaches the court to obtain visitation rights, they must prove that it is in the child's best interests.

Rather than rely on the adversarial process needed for a court to enforce rights a mediation process may be able to reach agreements where both sides feel they have been fairly served.

Great grandparents have rights, in some circumstances, to be awarded great grandparenting time with their grandchildren.  Recognition of great grandparents’ rights is a fairly recent trend.  Great grandparents, grandparents, stepparents, and other caretakers often form deep, meaningful relationships with the children in their lives. Yet when death, divorce, or estrangement tears families apart, these important people in a child’s life may find themselves stranded and feeling they are without options.  We can help to open the door and establish quality time with the affected children.

It must be stressed that in this discussion we are talking about the way the family law is written in Arizona and it does not apply to all states and jurisdictions. We would hope that the laws can be reformed so that all great grandparent’s rights get protected.

At WHYmediate?, Find out why mediation will allow you to resolve many different types of conflicts in a positive learning environment that covers how to deal with all the upcoming days in your life.

WHYmediate? Mediation Services
4500 South Lakeshore Drive Suite 300 
Tempe, AZ 85282 
(480) 777-5500
http://whymediate.solutions