In Arizona, property is characterized as community or separate property, as well as joint or common property. The legal characterization of your property may have a significant impact on the course decisions regarding possession, management, or control of the property, as well as division or disposition of the property.
The term property generally refers to all forms or real and personal property including but not limited to: real estate, including homes and undeveloped land, bank and other financial accounts, IRAs, 401(k)s, pension plans and other retirement accounts, stock options, vehicles, and other personal property items. Here’s how community and separate property rights are defined by statute. Community property generally describes all property acquired by either spouse during the party’s marriage.
Typically, it does not matter whether the property’s titled in one or both spouses’ names, so long as the property was acquired by either spouse during the marriage. The most significant exceptions to this general community property rule pertain to property acquired by gift to a particular spouse or through a spouse’s inheritance during marriage. Spouses generally have equal management, control, and disposition rights over their community property.
Separate property generally describes a spouse’s property which is owned by that spouse before marriage or is acquired during marriage by gift or inheritance, and also includes the increase, rents, issues, and profits of that property. In addition, property which is acquired by a spouse after severance of a petition for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or annulment is also the separate property of that spouse, if the petition results in a decree of dissolution of marriage, legal separation or annulment. Each spouse generally has the sole management, control, and disposition rights of each spouse’s separate property.
By: Kevin Park
In Arizona, property is characterized as community or separate property, as well as joint or common property. The legal characterization of your property may have a significant impact on the course decisions regarding possession, management, or control of the property, as well as division or disposition of the property.
The term property generally refers to all forms or real and personal property including but not limited to: real estate, including homes and undeveloped land, bank and other financial accounts, IRAs, 401(k)s, pension plans and other retirement accounts, stock options, vehicles, and other personal property items. Here’s how community and separate property rights are defined by statute. Community property generally describes all property acquired by either spouse during the party’s marriage.
Typically, it does not matter whether the property’s titled in one or both spouses’ names, so long as the property was acquired by either spouse during the marriage. The most significant exceptions to this general community property rule pertain to property acquired by gift to a particular spouse or through a spouse’s inheritance during marriage. Spouses generally have equal management, control, and disposition rights over their community property.
Separate property generally describes a spouse’s property which is owned by that spouse before marriage or is acquired during marriage by gift or inheritance, and also includes the increase, rents, issues, and profits of that property. In addition, property which is acquired by a spouse after severance of a petition for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or annulment is also the separate property of that spouse, if the petition results in a decree of dissolution of marriage, legal separation or annulment. Each spouse generally has the sole management, control, and disposition rights of each spouse’s separate property.
By: Kevin Park
My name is Jason Castle. I’m an attorney at Jaburg Wilk and my practice areas are family law and criminal defense.
A petition for dissolution of marriage is the initial formal document that starts the legal proceeding. The petition will typically set forth the jurisdiction, which gives the court the power and authority to rule on your issues. Then, it will set forth the issues that you have outstanding.
For example, if you have children you’re going to include that you want decision making power, you want parenting time. It will also set forth what you’re wanting as a final resolution. In a divorce action you’re wanting to get divorced, so you want the marriage to be dissolved.
To serve a petition is actually a formal process. In a general sense, it’s to make sure that the opposing party has notice of the action. I get a lot of clients that come in and they want to just hand the other spouse the documents and they think that that’s service. That is not effective legal service. Legal service requires a service processor who is certified to either serve it or for a person to waive service, which is a form they would sign and it would be filed with the court.
By: Jason Castle
My name is Jason Castle. I’m an attorney at Jaburg Wilk and my practice areas are family law and criminal defense.
A petition for dissolution of marriage is the initial formal document that starts the legal proceeding. The petition will typically set forth the jurisdiction, which gives the court the power and authority to rule on your issues. Then, it will set forth the issues that you have outstanding.
For example, if you have children you’re going to include that you want decision making power, you want parenting time. It will also set forth what you’re wanting as a final resolution. In a divorce action you’re wanting to get divorced, so you want the marriage to be dissolved.
To serve a petition is actually a formal process. In a general sense, it’s to make sure that the opposing party has notice of the action. I get a lot of clients that come in and they want to just hand the other spouse the documents and they think that that’s service. That is not effective legal service. Legal service requires a service processor who is certified to either serve it or for a person to waive service, which is a form they would sign and it would be filed with the court.
By: Jason Castle
Reclaiming a maiden name is very simple. You need only make the request. You can make the request in a petition for dissolution or a petition for legal separation. Similarly, you can make the request in a response to either one of those petitions. However, if you don’t make a request in any of those documents, you can wait till the final day, the final minute that the court is entering a final decree, make the request then and you’re fine. It’s important to consider that once you have a final decree, you’ll probably need to send certified copies of it to various state agencies like social security. If you have any other questions about this matter or any other family law matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at Hildebrand Law. The number is (480) 305-8300. Thank You.
If you wish to reclaim your maiden name, please visit this attorney’s profile and complete their contact form.
Reclaiming a maiden name is very simple. You need only make the request. You can make the request in a petition for dissolution or a petition for legal separation. Similarly, you can make the request in a response to either one of those petitions. However, if you don’t make a request in any of those documents, you can wait till the final day, the final minute that the court is entering a final decree, make the request then and you’re fine. It’s important to consider that once you have a final decree, you’ll probably need to send certified copies of it to various state agencies like social security. If you have any other questions about this matter or any other family law matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at Hildebrand Law. The number is (480) 305-8300. Thank You.
If you wish to reclaim your maiden name, please visit this attorney’s profile and complete their contact form.
Hi, I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a State Board of Arizona Certified Specialist in Family Law, and I practice at Jaburg and Wilk.
Yes, typically you’ll have to appear in court at least once. Judges in Maricopa County in divorce cases are very proactive, and so they call the parties to appear in front of them early on in the case to assess what their positions are and what other services might be required to help process the case, such as appraisers or custody evaluators. That appearance is not an appearance where you have to testify, but you will typically have to appear at least once in front of the judge.
One of the things that we do in your case is we put orders into place so that there is predictability while your case is proceeding. Those are called temporary orders. Orders for child support, orders for spousal maintenance, who gets possession of the house, how the bills get paid, these things need to be done in an orderly way, and we like to have court orders so that we are able to enforce people’s obligations during the process. That would typically require a hearing of some kind, and at that hearing, you would have to testify. That does not necessarily mean that you’ll have to testify for a long time, or that you would have to testify in a trial. It is possible to complete your divorce without having a trial. In fact, we prefer that our clients complete their divorces without having trial, because trial is the most unpredictable way to resolve your divorce. There are a number of different alternatives, all of which we will explore. One is mediation. Another is arbitration, which is essentially hiring a private judge to make the decisions in your case. We can also ask our judge to appoint someone – called a Family Law Master – to essentially take the place of the judge, and have hearings, and make recommendations in terms of findings. So there are a lot of different ways to settle your case or resolve it without having to go to trial.
Hi, I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a State Board of Arizona Certified Specialist in Family Law, and I practice at Jaburg and Wilk.
Yes, typically you’ll have to appear in court at least once. Judges in Maricopa County in divorce cases are very proactive, and so they call the parties to appear in front of them early on in the case to assess what their positions are and what other services might be required to help process the case, such as appraisers or custody evaluators. That appearance is not an appearance where you have to testify, but you will typically have to appear at least once in front of the judge.
One of the things that we do in your case is we put orders into place so that there is predictability while your case is proceeding. Those are called temporary orders. Orders for child support, orders for spousal maintenance, who gets possession of the house, how the bills get paid, these things need to be done in an orderly way, and we like to have court orders so that we are able to enforce people’s obligations during the process. That would typically require a hearing of some kind, and at that hearing, you would have to testify. That does not necessarily mean that you’ll have to testify for a long time, or that you would have to testify in a trial. It is possible to complete your divorce without having a trial. In fact, we prefer that our clients complete their divorces without having trial, because trial is the most unpredictable way to resolve your divorce. There are a number of different alternatives, all of which we will explore. One is mediation. Another is arbitration, which is essentially hiring a private judge to make the decisions in your case. We can also ask our judge to appoint someone – called a Family Law Master – to essentially take the place of the judge, and have hearings, and make recommendations in terms of findings. So there are a lot of different ways to settle your case or resolve it without having to go to trial.
There are two basic ways we can help our clients to resolve any divorce case. One is through settlement, and the other is by going to trial. Trial has certain advantages in that you can present your evidence to a judge who is a neutral person and that judge can enter orders that that judge thinks is appropriate, but there are a lot of costs associated with going to trial including the financial cost, but also the emotional cost, and the sleepless nights, and waiting to get ready for trial.
Most clients prefer to be able to resolve their case through settlement. Sometimes settlement is the parties talking among themselves and then I, as the attorney, simply draw up that agreement. Sometimes we do an informal settlement where we talk to both parties and the attorneys involved in that. If necessary, we can bring in a professional mediator to help the parties be able to reach an agreement.
Parties are generally much more pleased with an agreement that they’ve been able to negotiate, that they’ve been able to participate in, and reach. And also, the other party is more likely to fall through and comply with an agreement that he or she has negotiated.
Now if you would like more information regarding trial, or mediation, or your divorce case, contact us at (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online. If you have more questions on settlement and litigation in a divorce case in Arizona, please contact a lawyer in your area.
There are two basic ways we can help our clients to resolve any divorce case. One is through settlement, and the other is by going to trial. Trial has certain advantages in that you can present your evidence to a judge who is a neutral person and that judge can enter orders that that judge thinks is appropriate, but there are a lot of costs associated with going to trial including the financial cost, but also the emotional cost, and the sleepless nights, and waiting to get ready for trial.
Most clients prefer to be able to resolve their case through settlement. Sometimes settlement is the parties talking among themselves and then I, as the attorney, simply draw up that agreement. Sometimes we do an informal settlement where we talk to both parties and the attorneys involved in that. If necessary, we can bring in a professional mediator to help the parties be able to reach an agreement.
Parties are generally much more pleased with an agreement that they’ve been able to negotiate, that they’ve been able to participate in, and reach. And also, the other party is more likely to fall through and comply with an agreement that he or she has negotiated.
Now if you would like more information regarding trial, or mediation, or your divorce case, contact us at (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online. If you have more questions on settlement and litigation in a divorce case in Arizona, please contact a lawyer in your area.
A very common question we receive is, how long will it take to finalize my divorce case. In Arizona, the short answer is that it has to take at least (61) days. By statute, the court cannot grant a divorce until 60 days after the case has been filed, and the other person has been served, or notified of the case, and so especially in simple cases where the parties can reach an agreement, we can often finalize those cases in (60) to (90) days.
With more complicated cases, especially those cases where we have to gather documents, and we have to gather evidence, and we have to prepare witnesses, and we have to prepare for trial, those cases can take (4) to (6) months and even in certain cases, up to a year. Now, if you’d like more information about your divorce case, please contact us (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online.
If you are looking to finalize a divorce case in Arizona, please visit a profile and complete a contact form.
A very common question we receive is, how long will it take to finalize my divorce case. In Arizona, the short answer is that it has to take at least (61) days. By statute, the court cannot grant a divorce until 60 days after the case has been filed, and the other person has been served, or notified of the case, and so especially in simple cases where the parties can reach an agreement, we can often finalize those cases in (60) to (90) days.
With more complicated cases, especially those cases where we have to gather documents, and we have to gather evidence, and we have to prepare witnesses, and we have to prepare for trial, those cases can take (4) to (6) months and even in certain cases, up to a year. Now, if you’d like more information about your divorce case, please contact us (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online.
If you are looking to finalize a divorce case in Arizona, please visit a profile and complete a contact form.
For divorce cases in Arizona, the court is required to enter orders as to three basic issues, or even better, if the parties can reach an agreement on those issues, the court can adopt that agreement as the court order.
The first issue is the parenting-time arrangement. This agreement should include which parent will have the child during the week, which parent will have the child on weekends, how the children will be divided up for the holidays, and other issues as to the transportation and the division of the children.
The second issue that the court will look at is the legal decision-making for the children. In Arizona, generally the court will give both parties joint legal decision-making, which means that both parties should be involved in making major medical decisions, major educational decisions, and major religious decisions. Only in rare circumstances will the court give one person sole legal decision making of those major decisions for the child.
The final issue is child support. In Arizona, we have a guideline adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court that gives us an opportunity to based on your income, the other party’s income, and several other factors we can figure out based on that formula real close what the court is likely to order for child support in each case.
If you’d like more information regarding child related issues in your divorce case please contact me at (480) 733-6800 or you can reach us online.
For divorce cases in Arizona, the court is required to enter orders as to three basic issues, or even better, if the parties can reach an agreement on those issues, the court can adopt that agreement as the court order.
The first issue is the parenting-time arrangement. This agreement should include which parent will have the child during the week, which parent will have the child on weekends, how the children will be divided up for the holidays, and other issues as to the transportation and the division of the children.
The second issue that the court will look at is the legal decision-making for the children. In Arizona, generally the court will give both parties joint legal decision-making, which means that both parties should be involved in making major medical decisions, major educational decisions, and major religious decisions. Only in rare circumstances will the court give one person sole legal decision making of those major decisions for the child.
The final issue is child support. In Arizona, we have a guideline adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court that gives us an opportunity to based on your income, the other party’s income, and several other factors we can figure out based on that formula real close what the court is likely to order for child support in each case.
If you’d like more information regarding child related issues in your divorce case please contact me at (480) 733-6800 or you can reach us online.
Hi. My name is Mitchell Reichman. I’m a board certified specialist in family law and chair of the family law department at Jaburg & Wilk. Opting out is choosing to resolve a family law dispute outside the traditional judicial system. One of the ways parties can choose to opt out is by choosing to arbitrate.
Arbitration is a voluntary process. It’s beyond the jurisdiction of a judge to order parties to arbitrate. However, once parties do decide to arbitrate, a court order will be entered that appoints the arbitrator and governs the process. Generally in Arizona, arbitrations are governed by a set of statutes known as Arizona’s Arbitration Act. One of the advantages of arbitration is that the parties can choose the neutral that serves as the arbitrator based on the parties’ circumstances, particularly where the issues are specialized such as with the valuation of a business or professional practice. The parties can chose an arbitrator who has a greater amount of education, training, and experience than the judge randomly assigned to their case. This gives the parties the opportunity to obtain a more predictable outcome because the arbitrator is familiar with the issues that will be presented in a valuation analysis, and the judge might not be. An important difference between choosing to arbitrate a dispute as compared to a trial concerns the right to appeal.
Under Arizona’s Arbitration Act, people who choose to arbitrate have very limited rights to appeal the decision of the arbitrator. This is very dissimilar from their rights to appeal should a judge make the decision after a trial on the merits. Overall, however, in many cases we find that by choosing to opt out through a process of arbitration, we’re able to reach our goal of helping our clients obtain a more favorable result in their family law proceeding.
Hi. My name is Mitchell Reichman. I’m a board certified specialist in family law and chair of the family law department at Jaburg & Wilk. Opting out is choosing to resolve a family law dispute outside the traditional judicial system. One of the ways parties can choose to opt out is by choosing to arbitrate.
Arbitration is a voluntary process. It’s beyond the jurisdiction of a judge to order parties to arbitrate. However, once parties do decide to arbitrate, a court order will be entered that appoints the arbitrator and governs the process. Generally in Arizona, arbitrations are governed by a set of statutes known as Arizona’s Arbitration Act. One of the advantages of arbitration is that the parties can choose the neutral that serves as the arbitrator based on the parties’ circumstances, particularly where the issues are specialized such as with the valuation of a business or professional practice. The parties can chose an arbitrator who has a greater amount of education, training, and experience than the judge randomly assigned to their case. This gives the parties the opportunity to obtain a more predictable outcome because the arbitrator is familiar with the issues that will be presented in a valuation analysis, and the judge might not be. An important difference between choosing to arbitrate a dispute as compared to a trial concerns the right to appeal.
Under Arizona’s Arbitration Act, people who choose to arbitrate have very limited rights to appeal the decision of the arbitrator. This is very dissimilar from their rights to appeal should a judge make the decision after a trial on the merits. Overall, however, in many cases we find that by choosing to opt out through a process of arbitration, we’re able to reach our goal of helping our clients obtain a more favorable result in their family law proceeding.
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.
Parenting coordinators are often either other family lawyers who are well-versed in custodial litigation, or they’re mental health professionals or medical doctors.
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.
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
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.
Parenting coordinators are often either other family lawyers who are well-versed in custodial litigation, or they’re mental health professionals or medical doctors.
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.
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
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