Monday 29 August 2016

Do Grandparents have Rights In Arizona?

Divorce is a very sad time for the families. When couples are broken up, children are pulled away from sanctity of a two-parent home. Sadly it is not uncommon that only one stable parent remains in their lives. Just about everyone would agree that the children need to see both divorced parents as much as possible providing the non-custodial parent is not a threat to the child's well being in any way.

However, less concern has been giving to the grandparents. Our society is so focused on the nuclear family there seems to be no need for the extended family.

Yet, a child's emotional health goes beyond the physical evidence of parentage. You do not limit a child's love to who is defined as the father in a paternity test. There are both the maternal and paternal grandparents who love the child and often time have been a crucial part of their young lives.

Legally speaking the rights of the grandparents must be balanced with the rights of the parents. Not all grandparents are a good influence in the child's life, especially if they become vindictive after a divorce and fill the children's heads with ideas that their parent from the opposite side of the family is mean, or lacking in anyway.

Then again, there are the custodial parents who may feel that because there was a need to divorce their spouse that should also include divorcing the grandparents as well. Children should never be in the middle of vindictive divorce squabbles.

How then can grandparents exercise their rights to see the children they love so very much? DNA testing does not usually afford any special rights for grandparents.

Though parental DNA testing is fairly accurate it becomes less accurate for siblings or each generation removed. The reason for that of course is the extended gene pool and the multiple variations that will occur in the DNA.

Furthermore there are also blended families to consider. Sometimes the estranged ex spouse may have one biological parent but was raised by a step- parent as well. Children do not discriminate about who they love based on a paternity test.

Many grandparents do not know that they can fight for custody or even visitation rights. They do not have to remain silent with a broken heart. Grandparents can gain custodial rights in the State of Arizona. In disputed cases of alleged parentage. Arizona paternity testing may prove to be a factor in grandparent custody or visitation legal battles. Grandparent legal paternity testing can come in useful if the mother claims during divorce proceedings that her spouse was never the biological father in the first place.

Normally the father would be available for testing in such a case however if the case is not about divorce but about visitation rights being taken away from the paternal grandparents after their son died, this would be a worthwhile avenue to pursue in court.

DNA testing alone will not grant visitation or custody rights to the grandparents but it can help solidify their position. Arizona courts will look at all the evidence presented including legal DNA testing to decide what is in the best interest of the children.

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