Awesome Attorneys

Category: Family Law

  • Parenting Time in Arizona: How Schedules Actually Get Set

    Parenting time Arizona orders set the actual calendar: which nights, which holidays, which summer weeks a child spends with each parent. It is the practical half of what most people still call custody. Arizona law splits the old concept in two. Legal decision-making, the term Arizona now uses instead of custody, covers the authority to…

  • Prenuptial Agreement in Arizona: What Holds Up in Court

    A prenuptial agreement in Arizona doesn’t need a lawyer, a notary, or even anything given in exchange to be valid. Under A.R.S. § 25-201, the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act sets a surprisingly short list of requirements. Meeting the minimum bar and writing an agreement that actually survives a challenge later are two very different things.…

  • Relocating With a Child in Arizona: The Notice Requirement

    Relocating with a child in Arizona after a divorce isn’t just a personal decision once a parenting plan exists. Under A.R.S. § 25-408, a parent who wants to move more than 100 miles within the state, or move out of state entirely, has to give the other parent written notice first. Skipping that step can…

  • Protective Order in Arizona: Order of Protection vs Injunction

    A protective order in Arizona comes in two different legal forms. Which one applies depends entirely on the relationship between the people involved — not on how serious the situation feels. Getting that distinction right matters, because the two orders offer different protections and follow different rules. Order of Protection vs. Injunction Against Harassment Under…

  • Modifying a Custody Order in Arizona: The One-Year Rule

    Modifying a custody order in Arizona isn’t as simple as asking a judge for a do-over. Courts want stability for children, so the law builds in real friction before it will revisit legal decision-making or parenting time. Support orders work differently — they can move whenever income genuinely changes — but even there, “I’d rather…

  • Establishing Paternity in Arizona: The Five Legal Paths

    Establishing paternity in Arizona isn’t automatic for unmarried parents, and skipping it creates problems that surface later — usually right when a parent needs custody rights or a support order. Under A.R.S. § 25-814, Arizona law recognizes a legal father through one of five specific paths. Nothing about biology alone makes someone a legal parent…

  • Community Property in an Arizona Divorce: How It Gets Divided

    Community property in an Arizona divorce doesn’t care whose name is on the title. Under A.R.S. § 25-211, almost everything either spouse acquires during the marriage belongs to both of them equally. It doesn’t matter who earned it or whose name is on the account. The house, the retirement plan, the car loan — title…

  • Spousal Maintenance in Arizona: Who Qualifies and How Long

    Spousal maintenance in Arizona isn’t automatic, and it isn’t a reward for a long marriage on its own. Under A.R.S. § 25-319, a spouse first has to clear a threshold test before a court even considers an amount. Only after that threshold is met do the state’s spousal maintenance guidelines — effective since September 2022…

  • Arizona Child Support Guidelines: How the Calculation Works

    Arizona child support guidelines don’t leave the number up to a judge’s gut sense of fairness. Under A.R.S. § 25-320, the state uses an Income Shares Model. The court estimates what the child would have cost if the parents still lived together. It then splits that amount between the parents based on their proportional incomes.…

  • Child Custody in Arizona: What the Term Actually Means Now

    Arizona hasn’t used the word “custody” in its statutes since 2013. The law now splits child custody in Arizona into two separate pieces: legal decision-making, which is the authority to decide a child’s education, health care, and religion, and parenting time, which is the actual schedule of when the child is with each parent. A…