Court Opinion

ID: 9793893
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:54:56.804665+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:06:30.415553
License: Public Domain

ZLAKET, Justice,
specially concurring.
I reluctantly concur because I find no fault with the majority’s legal analysis. I write separately to express profound concern over the result, which in my view is potentially harmful to the welfare of not only this child, but others similarly situated.
I disagree with any suggestion that the legislature consciously intended to provide visitation for natural parents, grandparents and even greatgrandparents, and at the same time deliberately decided to withhold such rights from stepparents, step-grandparents and step-greatgrandparents who may have assumed full parental duties and significantly bonded with the child (or children). It is far more likely that the legislature either failed to fully consider this issue or, as the court of appeals concluded in Bryan v. Bryan, 132 Ariz. 353, 645 P.2d 1267 (Ct.App.1982), reasonably intended to include those truly standing in loco parentis as “parents,” at least for purposes of granting visitation.
Bryan involved such an award to a stepfather who had assumed all privileges and obligations of fatherhood with respect to his wife’s infant daughter. As the court’s opinion made clear, he effectively was “the only genuine father [she had] ever really known.” Id. at 360, 645 P.2d at 1274 (quoting from Clifford v. Woodford, 83 Ariz. 257, 266, 320 P.2d 452, 458 (1957)). The appellate court affirmed the award, noting that it was in the child’s best interests to provide for some continuation of the relationship after her mother and stepfather were divorced.
I continue to think that the ends of justice were well served by the result in Bryan I concede, however, that statutory authority for the court’s determination was at best unclear. It may be significant that although Bryan has been on the books for a dozen years, the legislature has in no way rejected or responded to it even in the face of subsequent criticism by a separate division of the court of appeals. See Olvera v. Superior Court, 168 Ariz. 556, 558, 815 P.2d 925, 927 (Ct.App.1991). There has also been no indication of legislative disagreement with this court’s recent determination that blood alone may not always be sufficient to trump the best interests of the child in matters of parental rights. See Pima County Juvenile Action No. S-114487, 179 Ariz. 86, 876 P.2d 1121 (1994).
I see no reason why the legislature would not want the courts to resolve such important human issues. As the majority observes, the statutes appropriately recognize differences between parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, and so it would not be unreasonable to draw similar distinctions with respect to their counterparts in the stepparent chain. Because the intensity of these relationships may vary, the amount of visitation, if any, would have to be tailored accordingly. Each case must necessarily be decided on its own facts. But as long as the court’s jurisdiction to make such determinations remains uncertain, the discussion is essentially academic.
There is yet another reason why these questions cry out for legislative clarification. In this case, for example, everyone except the mother was under the impression that the stepfather was the natural father of the child until the divorce was filed. The step-grandparents had taken care of and bonded with this child, believing all along that he was their flesh and blood, only to have a cruel trick played on them which now results in the harsh reality that they may be unable to see him again. Under our decision today, the same result would presumably be reached if a “father” in such a situation sought visitation with a child he thought was *409his and had raised as his own. See Hughes v. Creighton, 165 Ariz. 265, 798 P.2d 403 (Ct.App.1990). Thus, it might be argued that all fathers, married or unmarried, would be well-advised to get blood tests before emotionally investing in relationships with children who might later be completely taken from them. And, stepparents should be cautioned at the outset about the emotional risks of getting close to the children of their spouses. The same dangers face step-grandparents and step-greatgrandparents who dare to engage in such meaningful relationships. All of this seems ludicrous to me, particularly at a time when we so often lament the loss of family ties and values.
Although I believe such consequences were never intended or appreciated by the legislature, I concur that our hands are tied for now.