Children often have deep bonds with people who aren’t their parents — grandparents who helped raise them, a stepparent who has been in their life for years, or another close relative. When a family changes shape through divorce, death, or separation, those relationships can be put at risk. Arizona law recognizes this, and in certain circumstances it allows a non-parent to ask the court for visitation with a child.
Who can seek third-party visitation?
Arizona law gives grandparents, great-grandparents, and certain other people — including, in some cases, a stepparent who has acted as a parent — a path to request visitation. These requests are not automatic. A court weighs several factors, always centered on one question: what is in the best interests of the child? The court considers things like the existing relationship between the child and the person seeking visitation, why that person is asking, how much visitation is requested and its effect on the child’s routine, and — if a parent has died — the relationship with that side of the family.
Importantly, the law gives significant weight to a fit parent’s decisions about who spends time with their child. A third party asking for visitation is asking the court to allow time that a parent may not have chosen to give, so these cases carry a meaningful burden.
A recent clarification: one legal parent is enough
One part of Arizona’s visitation law allows a third party to seek visitation when a child is born to unmarried parents. A question arose about whether that provision required the child to have two legal parents to qualify. In a recent case, a stepfather sought visitation with a child who had only one legal parent — the child’s other biological parent had never legally established parentage.
The trial court initially said the law didn’t apply because the child had only one legal parent. The Arizona Court of Appeals disagreed and reversed. It held that the law does not require a child to have two legal parents to qualify for third-party visitation. As the court noted, children in exactly that situation are often the ones who most benefit from maintaining an important relationship — and reading the statute to exclude them would defeat its child-centered purpose.
What this means for families
The practical result is that stepparents, grandparents, and others in similar roles are not automatically shut out simply because a child has only one legal parent. If you have a meaningful, established relationship with a child and that relationship is being cut off, you may have options — though these cases are fact-specific and a parent’s rights are given real weight.
If you’re a grandparent, stepparent, or relative worried about losing time with a child you love — or a parent responding to a third-party visitation request — our family law attorneys can help you understand your rights and the best path forward.
Sally M. Colton
Certified Family Law Specialist and former Judge Pro Tempore dedicated to personalized, compassionate representation in divorce and custody matters.
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