Grandparent Visitation and Indiana's Relocation Statute

From Arizona to Indiana by way of The Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer comes AZ Grandparents Sustain Another Blow to Grandparent Visitation Rights:

"An intermediate Arizona appeals court said the statute blocking relocation was only available to the noncustodial parent, not to grandparents."

I wrote here about the possibility of Indiana grandparents having a say under Indiana's relocation statute. Curiosity sent me looking for the Arizona statute. This is the pertinent language from the Arizona statute:

B. If by written agreement or court order both parents are entitled to custody or parenting time and both parents reside in the state, at least sixty days' advance written notice shall be provided to the other parent before a parent may do either of the following:

1. Relocate the child outside the state.

2. Relocate the child more than one hundred miles within the state.

Oh, yes, much different than this language from Indiana's statute:

(b) Upon motion of a party, the court shall set the matter for a hearing to review and modify, if appropriate, a custody order, parenting time order, grandparent visitation order, or child support order. The court shall take into account the following in determining whether to modify a custody order, parenting time order, grandparent visitation order, or child support order.... (Emphasis added by me).

All the reading raises a question I had not thought of at the time of my early article. What if the grandparent filed an independent action for grandparent visitation? IC 31-17-5-4 gives any Circuit or Superior Court in the child's county venue over a grandparent visitation case if the child was born out of wedlock (and if paternity was established). If I represented the grandparents, I would file a motion to intervene in the paternity case rather than an independent action. Where the grandparents filed an independent case and I represent the custodial parent, I would move to consolidate the grandparent visitation case with the paternity case. That removes the problem of filing the notice of relocation in two different cases.

You will find other articles on this blog about Indiana's relocation statute by clicking here and on grandparent visitation by clicking here.

I am taking on cases under Indiana's grandparent visitation statute or a relocation case.