Blog Posts: Family Law

No one contemplates divorce when they are getting married.  While some people plan with a pre-nuptial agreement, many do not.  If that relationship, which was at one point the most important and fulfilling aspect of your life, is ending, it is hard to envision what real “winning” would look like.  Unfortunately, the reality is divorce presents many more oppo...

In a custody dispute between parents in an Arizona proceeding, if a parent has committed an act of “domestic violence” their right to have equal decision-making authority and unsupervised, or any, parenting time is at risk.  Arizona laws direct that when determining legal decision-making authority, previously known as custody, and parenting time, more commonly...

Mediation is a voluntary process in which the parties jointly select a neutral third party facilitator to help reach resolution of all or some of the issues in their divorce proceeding.  Mediation as we prefer to conduct it involves the lawyers at all times, including all meetings between the clients and the mediator. The mediator is a private person who is engag...

Parties may jointly agree to modify child support by submitting a stipulation, signed by both parties and/or their respective counsel, to the Court. To qualify for modification of your child support obligation, Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) §§ 25-327 and 25-503 requires a showing of changed circumstances that are considered both substantial and continui...

In Arizona, child support is calculated pursuant to the Arizona Child Support Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) under Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) § 25-320. However, to determine a party’s child support obligation, data based on the Guidelines is collected and inserted into a Child Support Calculator which will then calculate the amount of child suppo...

Nothing is more difficult than predicting what a judge will decide is the appropriate spousal maintenance award on any given set of facts.  This uncertainty can be traced to the statutory factors that a judge is compelled to consider to decide if a person is entitled to receive spousal maintenance and if so, the amount and duration of the award.  The fac...

Getting divorced can be both emotionally exhausting and financially devastating.  Couples may consider mediation as one method to transverse through the dissolution of their marriage with less acrimony and potentially at lower cost to the divorcing couple. We often attempt to resolve divorce cases through mediation and in most cases we achieve that goal.  Genera...

Force Majeure (literally a “superior force”) is a contract clause that excuses a party from performing its contract obligations because of unforeseen “Acts of God.” The basic idea is that, if something unforeseen should happen outside the parties’ reasonable control that severely disrupts their ability to perform the contract, the per...

Question:  I’m confined to my house due to the coronavirus.  I still want complete my divorce. Is that possible? The short answer is yes.  However, it requires cooperation from both parties.  If they can reach an agreement, the settlement documents can be submitted to the assigned judge who will sign same, thereby completing the divorce pr...

Question: If the other parent becomes ill with the COVID-19 virus, can I insist that his or her parenting time be suspended? In our experience, asking for reasonable accommodations to protect the health of a child is usually more effective than demanding. Remember, if they have the virus their emotions and stress levels - and as a result their defenses - are height...