If a visitation order is in place, and the parents and child move out of Arizona but grandparents remain in Arizona, does Arizona retain jurisdiction?
No. This was the case in Greenbank v. Vanzant, 250 Ariz. 644 (App. 2021). In that case, the father was killed in a car accident, and his mother requested and was granted visitation. Unfortunately, the mother was determined to avoid the Court order at all costs. Days after the order came out, she, without informing the grandmother, moved the child to Canada and continued to defy the court order. Eventually, she filed to modify the order in Canada. The Court of Appeals found that because Arizona’s jurisdictional statute states that Arizona only keeps jurisdiction so long as a parent or child remains in the state, Arizona lost jurisdiction over the modification. But the Court of Appeals still had jurisdiction to hit the mother with attorney’s fees, which it gladly did.