Divorce
Arizona is a “no-fault” divorce state, which means that a divorce is granted and property and debts divided without regard to marital misconduct. The Court will consider, however, financial damages from criminal behavior by one spouse and any abnormal expenditures, destruction, concealment or fraudulent disposition of property.
An exception to the “no-fault” standard is if you have a Covenant Marriage.
A person will be granted a divorce if the Court finds:
- One of the parties has lived or been stationed in Arizona for at least 90 days prior to filing for divorce and was living or stationed in Arizona on the day he or she filed for divorce;
- The conciliation provisions of Arizona law either do not apply or have been met;
- The marriage is irretrievably broken or, if the marriage is a covenant marriage, any of the grounds is met; and
- To the extent it has jurisdiction to do so, the court has considered, approved and made provision for child custody, child support, spousal maintenance and the disposition of the parties’ community property.
Because Arizona is a community property state, most assets or debts acquired during the marriage will be equally divided. Exceptions include:
- Property acquired prior to the marriage
- Property received as a gift from a third-party or inherited.
- Property excluded from community property by agreement (pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement).
Generally, a divorce court will decide the following issues:
- Legal Decision-Making for the Children
- Parenting time
- Child support
- Spousal maintenance
- Disposition of real estate and personal property
- Retirement accounts and benefits
- Division and responsibility for debts
- Confirmation of sole and separate property
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Divorce Process in Arizona
The amount of time the divorce or dissolution process takes varies from case to case. A simple divorce will take approximately six (6) months. Factors that can prolong the divorce process include how long the parties have been married, if there are minor children and if there are significant assets or debt to be divided.
The single most important factor that will prolong a divorce is if the parties are in disagreement regarding any one of the issues. The person filing for the divorce is called the Petitioner. The person responding to the divorce is called the Respondent.
01-Petition
After the Petitioner files the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, they must serve the Respondent with a copy of the petition within 120 days. With every divorce case state law requires that you wait 90 days from the date of service before the divorce can be finalized. This is called the “cooling off” period. If the parties are in agreement, the 60 days can be used to draft the final documents.
02-Response
After service of the petition, the Respondent must file a Response to the Petition for Dissolution within 20 days if he or she was served in the State of Arizona or 30 days if the respondent was served in a different state.
03-Temporary Orders
Arizona Rule of Family Law Procedure 47 allows the Court to issue temporary orders which are in effect as long as the case is pending. You can ask for a temporary order on any (or all) of the following issues: legal decision-making for your children, parenting time, child support, spousal maintenance, excluding your spouse from the residence, division of community property, and payment of a debt, expenses or attorney fees.
Temporary orders are orders from the court that stay in effect while the case is pending and those orders last until trial or an agreed-upon resolution of the case.
04-Disclosure and Discovery
Arizona Rule of Family Law Procedure 49 requires extensive disclosure of information and documents by you and your spouse “to ensure that each party to an action is fairly informed of the facts, data, legal theories, witnesses, documents and to her information that is relevant to the case.”
For cases involving child support, spousal maintenance or attorney fees and costs, each party must complete and provide to the other party an Affidavit of Financial Information, known as an “AFI.”
In addition, each party can send “Discovery Requests” to the other party
Discovery is another legal procedure for obtaining information from the other party. There are several different types:
- These are written questions that must be answered in writing. There are both Uniform and Non-Uniform Interrogatories.
- Requests for Production of Documents and Things and Entry onto Land.
- Physical, Mental or Behavioral Health and Vocational Evaluations
- Requests for Admission.
- These are formal question and answer sessions. Your lawyer will ask your spouse questions, which your spouse must answer under oath. A court reporter transcribes the entire question and answer so there is a transcript that can be used at trial.
- Subpoenas to persons and organizations. Subpoenas are issued by the Clerk of the Court to compel a person or organization to disclose documents in their possession, custody or control that are relevant to issues in the divorce.
05-Settlement Agreement and Consent Decree
Parties to a divorce are encouraged to reach a settlement on all or some of the issues. If you can agree with your spouse on how to settle all of the issues, then you will not have to have a trial with a judge deciding the case. Settlements can be done through negotiation or mediation.
06-Trial
If you’re not able to reach an agreement on all of the issues, then you will need to have trial on all of the disputed issues. At trial, both parties testify and introduce documents and and other evidence to support his or her case. The judge will then decide how to resolve the dispute and will issue orders that must be followed.
07-Appeal
If you or your spouse is unhappy with the judge’s decision, then an appeal can be filed with the Arizona Court of Appeals. Note that if you’re able to settle an issue, that issue cannot be appealed and you’re free to move forward in accordance with those settlement terms.
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