Category: Family Law
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Annulment in Arizona: Who Actually Qualifies
Annulment Arizona courts grant is rarer and narrower than most people expect. A divorce ends a valid marriage. An annulment is a court ruling that the marriage was never legally valid in the first place. The popular version of the idea, that a short or regretted marriage can simply be erased, is not the law.…
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Legal Separation vs. Divorce in Arizona: Which Fits Your Situation
Legal separation Arizona law offers is a genuine court decree, not a trial run at divorce. It divides property, sets parenting orders and support, and ends the marital community going forward. Yet the spouses remain legally married when it is over. That combination fits a narrow set of situations very well and fits most situations…
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Covenant Marriage in Arizona: Why Your Divorce Rules May Differ
Covenant marriage divorce Arizona rules surprise almost everyone who runs into them, including some of the spouses involved. Arizona is one of only three states that offer covenant marriage, alongside Louisiana and Arkansas. Couples who chose that option at the wedding, or converted to it later, gave up the ordinary no-fault divorce process. A standard…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…