Greetings and Happy May 4th, 2023. If you were not already aware, May 4th is also known as Star Wars Day where people can greet each other by saying May the Fourth
be with you.

The Star Wars movies are chock full of interesting family law questions such as, assuming that he knew Luke and Leia existed, what kind of parenting plan would Darth
Vader have had? Or would Princess Leia need a prenuptial agreement before getting married to Han Solo?

Just for fun, we were considering third party custody and visitation rights. More specifically, focusing on The Mandalorian and whether The Mandalorian, as a non-
parent, would have had any right to request custody or visitation with Baby Yoda. If you’re not familiar with the series, The Mandalorian is a bounty hunter who ends up
retrieving Grogu, who is more commonly referred to as Baby Yoda, as part of a job. After retrieving Baby Yoda, the Mandalorian and then ends up going on the run to
protect him from people who want to cause him harm. During the series, Mando and Baby Yoda end up spending a lot of time together with Mando taking care of and
protecting Grogu and the two of them developing a bond with one another.

So, the legal question is would Mando, who is not the legal or biological parent of Grogu, have any right to custody or visitation with Grogu?

As with anything in the law, the answer is that it depends. First, let’s assume that they somehow ended up in Oregon for at least six months. Then, let’s assume that Grogu is considered human and, even though the show describes him as actually being 50 years old, that those were somehow space years and that, in Earth years, he is still a minor child. In Oregon, a non-parent third party (usually a grandparent or other family member, but it can actually be any adult), who has established emotional ties with a child that creates a child-parent relationship can seek custody of the child. Also, a non-parent third party who has had an ongoing personal relationship with a child can seek visitation with the child. In the case of the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, all of the care that Mando provides for Baby Yoda throughout their time together could be used to support a claim for third party custody or visitation.

However, that isn’t the end of the story. The party seeking third party custody or visitation still has to prove that it is in the child’s best interest for the third party to have
custody or visitation. Moreover, there is a legal presumption that the legal parent acts in the child’s best interest. That is a legal presumption that can be overcome in different ways, but it can be a difficult hurdle to overcome. Oregon statutes and case law do list factors for a court to consider, but unsurprisingly they don’t discuss rescuing a child and transporting it throughout the galaxy while on the run from evil space lords.

These can be complicated situations and the content of this article should not be interpreted as providing any legal advice on how to win custody of your unnamed race
of diminutive green humanoids with large, pointed ears who are powerful with the Force. However, if you have any other questions about how Oregon divorce laws apply to Star Wars canon, please feel free to contact us.