Arizona Child Custody Laws

What is Sole Legal Custody and Decision Making in Arizona | Hildebrand Law, PC

Chris Hildebrand

 

Sole Custody and Legal Decision Making in Arizona

Learn about the difference between sole legal decision making from joint legal decision making and joint physical custody of children in Arizona. There are very large differences between sole custody of a child and joint custody. With sole custody, one parent will be able to unilaterally make all major decisions for the children. The other parent is still entitled to obtain his or her children’s medical records, educational records, and counseling records. That other parent just does not have the legal right to decide what medical care his or her child receives, the school the child attends, or the extracurricular activities of the child may participate.

Parents with joint legal custody, on the other hand, have to agree before there are any changes to the children’s school, doctor, and other major decisions affecting the children. Most judges in Arizona award joint legal custody unless the judge determines there has been significant domestic violence, substance abuse, or child abuse.

Call the child custody attorneys at Hildebrand Law, PC at (480)305-8300 to speak to one of our child custody lawyers.

Author: Chris Hildebrand

Sole Custody and Legal Decision Making in Arizona

Learn about the difference between sole legal decision making from joint legal decision making and joint physical custody of children in Arizona. There are very large differences between sole custody of a child and joint custody. With sole custody, one parent will be able to unilaterally make all major decisions for the children. The other parent is still entitled to obtain his or her children’s medical records, educational records, and counseling records. That other parent just does not have the legal right to decide what medical care his or her child receives, the school the child attends, or the extracurricular activities of the child may participate.

Parents with joint legal custody, on the other hand, have to agree before there are any changes to the children’s school, doctor, and other major decisions affecting the children. Most judges in Arizona award joint legal custody unless the judge determines there has been significant domestic violence, substance abuse, or child abuse.

Call the child custody attorneys at Hildebrand Law, PC at (480)305-8300 to speak to one of our child custody lawyers.

Author: Chris Hildebrand

What is an Arizona Parenting Plan Document | Scottsdale Child Custody

Greg Davis

 

Scottsdale Parenting Plans

A parenting plan is a document, which a judge will make or parents can make themselves. It describes with whom a child will live and on what days of the week. It describes which parent, or both parents will make the decisions for the child. For details, contact me, Greg Davis at Davis Limited, (602) 279-1900.

By: Greg Davis

Scottsdale Parenting Plans

A parenting plan is a document, which a judge will make or parents can make themselves. It describes with whom a child will live and on what days of the week. It describes which parent, or both parents will make the decisions for the child. For details, contact me, Greg Davis at Davis Limited, (602) 279-1900.

By: Greg Davis

Parenting Coordinators | Arizona Family Law

Laurence B. Hirsch

 

What is a Parenting Coordinator?

Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Parenting coordinators are appointed by the court, and the main thing that they do is help parents make decisions when the parents can’t agree. Look, the parties are getting divorced. Clearly they’re not seeing eye to eye on everything, and more often than not they don’t see eye to eye on parental decisions, nor can they make even the most simplistic agreements on their own. And so a lot of times somebody needs some help, and that’s where parenting coordinators come into play.

Who are Parenting Coordinators?

Parenting coordinators are often either other family lawyers who are well-versed in custodial litigation, or they’re mental health professionals or medical doctors.

Appropriate Issues

What kinds of issues are appropriate for what we call a PC to oversee? They’re issues like school, vacations, the change of a parenting day, the right of first refusal, babysitters, caregivers, even medical arrangements, medical decisions, which doctors they’re going to see. In other words, these are often things that people shouldn’t be litigating about. They shouldn’t be spending $10,000 on the issue of should I be picking up the kid at 3:15 on Thursday or 3 o’clock on Thursday? So that’s where parenting coordinators come into play – highly beneficial for the parties, saves a ton of money, also helps everybody’s mental health because things are handled quickly by the parenting coordinator.

Non-Appropriate Issues

Now, what are parenting coordinators not for? The main thing that a parenting coordinator is not for is making decisions with regard to decision-making authority or custody. In other words, if you are already divorced and you want to change your custodial access schedule – let’s say it’s week on/week off – and you don’t think father should be seeing the children that much any longer, the parenting coordinator is not the right person to go to for that. Unfortunately, the court is.

By: Laurence Hirsch

What is a Parenting Coordinator?

Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Parenting coordinators are appointed by the court, and the main thing that they do is help parents make decisions when the parents can’t agree. Look, the parties are getting divorced. Clearly they’re not seeing eye to eye on everything, and more often than not they don’t see eye to eye on parental decisions, nor can they make even the most simplistic agreements on their own. And so a lot of times somebody needs some help, and that’s where parenting coordinators come into play.

Who are Parenting Coordinators?

Parenting coordinators are often either other family lawyers who are well-versed in custodial litigation, or they’re mental health professionals or medical doctors.

Appropriate Issues

What kinds of issues are appropriate for what we call a PC to oversee? They’re issues like school, vacations, the change of a parenting day, the right of first refusal, babysitters, caregivers, even medical arrangements, medical decisions, which doctors they’re going to see. In other words, these are often things that people shouldn’t be litigating about. They shouldn’t be spending $10,000 on the issue of should I be picking up the kid at 3:15 on Thursday or 3 o’clock on Thursday? So that’s where parenting coordinators come into play – highly beneficial for the parties, saves a ton of money, also helps everybody’s mental health because things are handled quickly by the parenting coordinator.

Non-Appropriate Issues

Now, what are parenting coordinators not for? The main thing that a parenting coordinator is not for is making decisions with regard to decision-making authority or custody. In other words, if you are already divorced and you want to change your custodial access schedule – let’s say it’s week on/week off – and you don’t think father should be seeing the children that much any longer, the parenting coordinator is not the right person to go to for that. Unfortunately, the court is.

By: Laurence Hirsch

How Do I Enforce Parenting Time | Arizona

Kip Micuda

 

As you might imagine, parenting time or the enforcement of parenting time is an issue that we deal with frequently. There’s a couple ways to deal with it. First, and the way that we prefer, is to be able contact the other party, or perhaps their attorney and try to resolve the issue informally. That can result in an agreement between the parties, it can be approved by the court and you’re essentially done. A more formal process is to file a petition to enforce parenting time. That petition itself is generally, fairly brief and fairly simple. However, the process of getting a court order on that petition can be rather involved and rather significant. If you have any specific questions or have other requests, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

Contact an Arizona divorce lawyer to begin enforcing your parenting time.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

As you might imagine, parenting time or the enforcement of parenting time is an issue that we deal with frequently. There’s a couple ways to deal with it. First, and the way that we prefer, is to be able contact the other party, or perhaps their attorney and try to resolve the issue informally. That can result in an agreement between the parties, it can be approved by the court and you’re essentially done. A more formal process is to file a petition to enforce parenting time. That petition itself is generally, fairly brief and fairly simple. However, the process of getting a court order on that petition can be rather involved and rather significant. If you have any specific questions or have other requests, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

Contact an Arizona divorce lawyer to begin enforcing your parenting time.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

What is Sole Legal Decision Making Authority | Scottsdale Child Custody

Greg Davis

 

Legal Decision Making

In Arizona, we don’t use the word legal custody anymore. We now refer to legal custody as decision-making authority. Sole legal decision making authority refers to a situation where one parent makes all the major decisions for a child. It’s rare. Most of the time, legal decision-making is joint. For more information, contact me, Greg Davis at Davis Limited, (602) 279-1900.

By: Greg Davis

Legal Decision Making

In Arizona, we don’t use the word legal custody anymore. We now refer to legal custody as decision-making authority. Sole legal decision making authority refers to a situation where one parent makes all the major decisions for a child. It’s rare. Most of the time, legal decision-making is joint. For more information, contact me, Greg Davis at Davis Limited, (602) 279-1900.

By: Greg Davis

What is a Parenting Plan in Arizona | Hildebrand Law, PC

Michael Clancy

 

A parenting plan is a court order that tells parents how they need to behave and act around their children. More importantly, it tells the parents when they actually get to see their children. It may include other things like holiday schedule, vacation schedule. It may also have mandated portions regarding unreimbursed medical expenses and child support. Each case is so different and that’s why here at Hildebrand Law, we try to treat each case with uniqueness. And so, if you’d like to discuss this more or decide whether we could help you with your parenting plan needs, please give me a call at (480) 305-8300.

By: Attorney Michael Clancy

A parenting plan is a court order that tells parents how they need to behave and act around their children. More importantly, it tells the parents when they actually get to see their children. It may include other things like holiday schedule, vacation schedule. It may also have mandated portions regarding unreimbursed medical expenses and child support. Each case is so different and that’s why here at Hildebrand Law, we try to treat each case with uniqueness. And so, if you’d like to discuss this more or decide whether we could help you with your parenting plan needs, please give me a call at (480) 305-8300.

By: Attorney Michael Clancy

What are the Different Forms of Child Custody | Scottsdale Child Custody

Chris Hildebrand

 

Types of Child Custody

I want to speak to you today about the different forms of legal custody of a child in the state of Arizona. When we talk about custody, we are really talking about two different aspects of custody as it relates to children.

Physical Custody

The first of which is, how much time the child or children spend in the each parent’s home. We refer to that as physical custody.

Legal Decision Making

But, the other aspect of custody has to do with who gets to make the major decisions affecting the child. For example, the decisions regarding education, such as where the child goes to school, medical decisions, the children’s participation in extracurricular activities and even the child’s religious upbringing.

If a parent has sole legal custody, that parent gets to make all those decisions irrespective of the wishes of the other parent. If the parents share joint legal custody however, both parents must agree regarding those decisions for the child. If you have any other questions regarding custody or parenting time in the state of Arizona, please feel free to contact me.

By: Chris Hildebrand

Types of Child Custody

I want to speak to you today about the different forms of legal custody of a child in the state of Arizona. When we talk about custody, we are really talking about two different aspects of custody as it relates to children.

Physical Custody

The first of which is, how much time the child or children spend in the each parent’s home. We refer to that as physical custody.

Legal Decision Making

But, the other aspect of custody has to do with who gets to make the major decisions affecting the child. For example, the decisions regarding education, such as where the child goes to school, medical decisions, the children’s participation in extracurricular activities and even the child’s religious upbringing.

If a parent has sole legal custody, that parent gets to make all those decisions irrespective of the wishes of the other parent. If the parents share joint legal custody however, both parents must agree regarding those decisions for the child. If you have any other questions regarding custody or parenting time in the state of Arizona, please feel free to contact me.

By: Chris Hildebrand

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