Robert and Christy Thon were married in 1992 and had two children before divorcing several years later. In 1997, Mr. Thon's mother, Sandi Tangreen, was granted visitation with her grandchildren. In 1998, Christy's new husband, Steven Jackson, adopted the children. Shortly thereafter, the Jacksons filed a petition to terminate Mrs. Tangreen's visitation rights, arguing that Arizona's grandparent visitation statute (A.R.S. section 25-409) is unconstitutional in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Troxel (see earlier case summary for cite) and because it impermissibly distinguishes between two-parent and stepparent adoptions by permitting continuing visitation when a child is adopted by a stepparent. The trial court denied the Jacksons' petition, and they appealed.
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirms, finding that Troxel has no impact on Arizona's visitation statute and that the statute may distinguish between two-parent and stepparent adoptions. The court concludes that the Arizona statute is 'much more narrowly drawn than the Washington statute in Troxel.' For example, Arizona's statute is limited to grandparents and great-grandparents, and the court may order visitation over parental objections only if the marriage of the parents has been dissolved for at least three months, one of the parents of the child is deceased or missing, or the child was born out of wedlock. In addition, the Arizona statute requires courts to give weight to a parent's visitation decisions, which a plurality of Supreme Court justices said the trial court in Troxel failed to do.
In ruling that the visitation statute does not unconstitutionally distinguish between two-parent adoptions and stepparent adoptions, the court holds that such differential treatment furthers the legitimate state interest of supporting caring relationships between family members.
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