Awesome Attorneys

Category: Family Law

  • Can You Change a Custody Order After It’s Final?

    You can change a custody order after it’s final, but the court won’t reopen the case just because a parent is unhappy with it; every state requires some showing that circumstances have changed since the order was entered, and that the change would serve the child’s best interests. Finality is the point of a custody…

  • What to Do If a Co-Parent Won’t Follow the Custody Order

    When a co-parent won’t follow the custody order, the order is still the law, and the remedy is contempt of court: a motion asking the judge to enforce what the judge already ordered. That’s the part people get wrong. They call the police, who usually treat a custody dispute as a civil matter and decline…

  • Signing an Acknowledgment of Paternity: What It Legally Does

    Signing an acknowledgment of paternity at the hospital does one thing with legal force. It makes the man who signs the child’s legal father, with the same rights and obligations as if a court had ruled on it. Every state offers the form, usually alongside the birth certificate paperwork. Federal law requires states to have…

  • How to Choose a Family Law Attorney in Phoenix

    Finding a family law attorney Phoenix residents can actually rely on takes more than a search results page and a five-star average. Those numbers say almost nothing about whether an attorney regularly appears in Maricopa County Superior Court’s family division. Some attorneys handle these cases occasionally, alongside several other practice areas. Divorce, custody, and support…

  • Same-Sex Divorce and Parenting in Arizona

    A same sex divorce Arizona courts handle runs through the same dissolution process as any other marriage — Title 25, the same community property rules, the same parenting-time framework. What actually gets litigated in these cases usually isn’t the divorce itself. It’s parentage: who counts as a legal parent when only one spouse gave birth.…

  • Military Divorce in Arizona: Luke AFB, Pensions, and the SCRA

    A military divorce Arizona courts handle runs on the same community-property framework as any other Arizona dissolution, with one key difference: federal law controls how a service member’s retirement pay actually gets divided and paid out, not state law. Arizona courts still apply A.R.S. Title 25 to the marriage itself. But the pension at the…

  • Divorce Mediation in Arizona: How It Works and When It Doesn’t

    Divorce mediation Arizona courts lean on is not a soft alternative to the legal process — it is part of the process, woven directly into how Maricopa County and the rest of the state handle family cases. Most contested parenting disputes will pass through some form of mediation or alternative dispute resolution before a judge…

  • Grandparents’ Rights in Arizona: Visitation and Placement

    Grandparents rights Arizona law recognizes are real. They are also narrower than most grandparents hope, and stronger than most parents assume. The controlling statute is A.R.S. § 25-409, which governs all third-party claims involving a child. Visitation runs on one track. The far more demanding request for legal decision-making or placement runs on another. Arizona…

  • Modifying Child Support in Arizona: When and How

    To modify child support Arizona law demands more than a change of heart. It demands a change of circumstances, and a durable one. Under A.R.S. § 25-327, a court can modify an existing support order only on a showing of changed circumstances that are substantial and continuing. That standard filters out temporary bumps and buyer’s…

  • Debt Division in an Arizona Divorce: Community Debt Rules

    Debt division divorce Arizona rules start from a premise that surprises many people: debts run in community too. In a community property state, obligations either spouse takes on during the marriage are presumptively community debts. The marital community owes them, regardless of whose name is on the account. The credit card only one spouse used.…