It is a general rule that an Arizona court must equitably divide all of the spouses community property and debts, without regard to marital misconduct when it enters its final decree of dissolution of marriage. The term equitable is a concept of fairness, depending upon the facts of a particular case.
Consistent with this fairness concept, the court may not order the sale of a community marital residence during the pendency of a divorce proceeding absent an agreement of spouses, a separately filed and consolidated partition action, or circumstances which demonstrate that the residence is at risk of being foreclosed, and neither spouse has the ability to void the foreclosure to preserve existing equity in the residence.
An equitable division of community property is not necessarily or presumptively an equal division of community property. Having said that, an equal division of community property and debts by a court in a divorce proceeding generally will be the most equitable result. However, there sometimes are circumstances that exist which lead a court to unequally divide community assets or debts because the judge determines it is equitable or fair to do so. The court may consider excessive or abnormal expenditures by a spouse, such as those to support gambling habits or drug addiction during marriage, for example.
The court also may consider a spouse’s destruction, concealment, or fraudulent disposition of community, joint, or common property in it’s division of community assets and debts. These particular matters often are referred to as waste, and can result in the court making an unequal division of community assets or debts.
By: Kevin Park
It is a general rule that an Arizona court must equitably divide all of the spouses community property and debts, without regard to marital misconduct when it enters its final decree of dissolution of marriage. The term equitable is a concept of fairness, depending upon the facts of a particular case.
Consistent with this fairness concept, the court may not order the sale of a community marital residence during the pendency of a divorce proceeding absent an agreement of spouses, a separately filed and consolidated partition action, or circumstances which demonstrate that the residence is at risk of being foreclosed, and neither spouse has the ability to void the foreclosure to preserve existing equity in the residence.
An equitable division of community property is not necessarily or presumptively an equal division of community property. Having said that, an equal division of community property and debts by a court in a divorce proceeding generally will be the most equitable result. However, there sometimes are circumstances that exist which lead a court to unequally divide community assets or debts because the judge determines it is equitable or fair to do so. The court may consider excessive or abnormal expenditures by a spouse, such as those to support gambling habits or drug addiction during marriage, for example.
The court also may consider a spouse’s destruction, concealment, or fraudulent disposition of community, joint, or common property in it’s division of community assets and debts. These particular matters often are referred to as waste, and can result in the court making an unequal division of community assets or debts.
By: Kevin Park
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.
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
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
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
Hello, I want to speak to you today about whether you need a reason for obtaining a divorce in the state of Arizona. Arizona is a no fault divorce state, which means that other than alleging the marriage is irretrievably broken, you do not have to state a reason or prove a reason to obtain a divorce in Arizona. If you have any other questions regarding the need to file for divorce or questions regarding divorce or legal separation, please feel free to contact me.
By: Chris Hildebrand
Hello, I want to speak to you today about whether you need a reason for obtaining a divorce in the state of Arizona. Arizona is a no fault divorce state, which means that other than alleging the marriage is irretrievably broken, you do not have to state a reason or prove a reason to obtain a divorce in Arizona. If you have any other questions regarding the need to file for divorce or questions regarding divorce or legal separation, please feel free to contact me.
By: Chris Hildebrand
When you hire a divorce lawyer, your contract with that lawyer will initially require that you to pay the fees for that lawyer. The court however, can reallocate the payment of attorneys fees based on a couple of considerations prior to entering any orders, making one party pay the other party’s attorney fees.
The court has to look at which party has been reasonable in the litigation, and also the court has to look at the relative financial positions of both parties, both the assets and the incomes of the parties. So, in cases where one person has a lot of money and the other person has no ability to hire an attorney, the court is going to be very inclined to order the person with the greater financial wherewithal to pay the attorney fees of the other party.
And also, in cases where one person has been very unreasonable throughout the litigation and has caused unnecessary trial, or unnecessary litigation, the court is likely to enter as a punishment, an order requiring that person to pay all, or some part of the other person’s attorney fees.
Now, if you’d like more information about divorce, attorney fees, or any of these other issues, please contact me at (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online.
When you hire a divorce lawyer, your contract with that lawyer will initially require that you to pay the fees for that lawyer. The court however, can reallocate the payment of attorneys fees based on a couple of considerations prior to entering any orders, making one party pay the other party’s attorney fees.
The court has to look at which party has been reasonable in the litigation, and also the court has to look at the relative financial positions of both parties, both the assets and the incomes of the parties. So, in cases where one person has a lot of money and the other person has no ability to hire an attorney, the court is going to be very inclined to order the person with the greater financial wherewithal to pay the attorney fees of the other party.
And also, in cases where one person has been very unreasonable throughout the litigation and has caused unnecessary trial, or unnecessary litigation, the court is likely to enter as a punishment, an order requiring that person to pay all, or some part of the other person’s attorney fees.
Now, if you’d like more information about divorce, attorney fees, or any of these other issues, please contact me at (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online.
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