Arizona Family Law Laws

Can You Keep Your Spouse's Health Insurance Policy After a Divorce | Scottsdale Divorce…

Greg Davis

 

Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act

In most circumstances, you can’t keep your spouse’s health insurance after a divorce. You can, however, convert your spouse’s health insurance to your own plan under HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Most people know this as COBRA. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to keep your insurance for another (36) thirty-six months. Unfortunately, it’s also very expensive. For details, contact me, Greg Davis, at (602) 279-1900.

By: Greg Davis

Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act

In most circumstances, you can’t keep your spouse’s health insurance after a divorce. You can, however, convert your spouse’s health insurance to your own plan under HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Most people know this as COBRA. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to keep your insurance for another (36) thirty-six months. Unfortunately, it’s also very expensive. For details, contact me, Greg Davis, at (602) 279-1900.

By: Greg Davis

How Long to Finalize a Divorce Case in Arizona | Tempe Divorce Laws

Douglas Gardner

 

Divorce Case Length in Tempe

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 youโ€™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.

By: Attorney Douglas Gardner

Divorce Case Length in Tempe

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 youโ€™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.

By: Attorney Douglas Gardner

How Does Arizona Determine Child Support Amounts | Phoenix Family Law

Joel Hoffman

 

Determining Child Support in Phoenix

Child support in Arizona is controlled by Arizona revised statute, title 25 section 320, which is commonly referred to as the Arizona child support guidelines. The child support is determined from utilizing certain factors:

  • The gross income of both parents
  • The amount of any spousal maintenance is paid or received by either parent
  • The child support paid for another child
  • Whether either parent supports other biological children in their household
  • The number of children at issue and whether any of those children are over twelve years old
  • The cost of health care insurance just for the children
  • The cost of child care for the children
  • Any cost of education of private or special school
  • Any costs associated with an extraordinary child, such as a gifted or handicapped child
  • And finally the amount of parenting days per year for the non-primary custodial parentย 

Please contact me at Warner Angle, (602) 264-7101 to schedule a complimentary consultation to review these factors for your specific situation, and calculate the amount of child support you would either receive or be obligated to pay on a monthly basis. I look forward to meeting with you.

By: Attorney Joel Hoffman

Determining Child Support in Phoenix

Child support in Arizona is controlled by Arizona revised statute, title 25 section 320, which is commonly referred to as the Arizona child support guidelines. The child support is determined from utilizing certain factors:

  • The gross income of both parents
  • The amount of any spousal maintenance is paid or received by either parent
  • The child support paid for another child
  • Whether either parent supports other biological children in their household
  • The number of children at issue and whether any of those children are over twelve years old
  • The cost of health care insurance just for the children
  • The cost of child care for the children
  • Any cost of education of private or special school
  • Any costs associated with an extraordinary child, such as a gifted or handicapped child
  • And finally the amount of parenting days per year for the non-primary custodial parentย 

Please contact me at Warner Angle, (602) 264-7101 to schedule a complimentary consultation to review these factors for your specific situation, and calculate the amount of child support you would either receive or be obligated to pay on a monthly basis. I look forward to meeting with you.

By: Attorney Joel Hoffman

How Does Genetic Testing Affect Paternity | Arizona

Kip Micuda

 

Genetic testing generally comes up in the context of a paternity petition. A paternity petition can be filed during a pregnancy or after the child is born. Once the child is born, the court is going to order genetic testing. The court will order the mother, the child and the potential father to undergo testing. The court has complete discretion as to assigning the cost of that genetic testing. It can assign the cost to the mother, the father, or split the cost somehow. Another context where genetic testing may come up is when the department of economic security is looking to establish paternity. In that case, DES will shoulder the cost of the genetic testing. If you have any other questions concerning this matter or any other family law matter, please contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

Genetic testing generally comes up in the context of a paternity petition. A paternity petition can be filed during a pregnancy or after the child is born. Once the child is born, the court is going to order genetic testing. The court will order the mother, the child and the potential father to undergo testing. The court has complete discretion as to assigning the cost of that genetic testing. It can assign the cost to the mother, the father, or split the cost somehow. Another context where genetic testing may come up is when the department of economic security is looking to establish paternity. In that case, DES will shoulder the cost of the genetic testing. If you have any other questions concerning this matter or any other family law matter, please contact me at Hildebrand Law. The phone number is (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

Impact of Affair on Divorce Case | Arizona Family Law

Laurence B. Hirsch

 

Does a Spousal Affair Affect my Divorce Case?

Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practise exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. First and foremost, the court doesn’t care about the affair that your spouse had. Our courts are not in the business of making moral judgments, i.e. who slept with who, when they slept with who. More often than not, an affair during the marriage does not come into play during your divorce proceeding.

When Can an Affair have an Impact on the Case?

There are two occasions where an affair can actually have an impact on your case. The first one is when there was waste, that’s also called dissipation. For example, let’s just call it “Husband” for the time being, and Husband was having an affair for the better part of two years during the marriage, and during that affair, Husband was buying his paramour, or his girlfriend, fur coats, diamond rings, taking her on lavish vacations, maybe he helped pay a car. Well, in this situation, where the community income or the earnings of Husband was community, that would be considered community waste, so we’re going to want to take a look at all the bank statements, all the credit card statements, and we are going to take a detailed review as to all of the money that the spouse who is having the affair spent on that other individual. Now, the spouse who is not having the affair is entitled to one half reimbursement of those funds that was spent by the spouse who is having an affair. So, to make it really simplistic, if during the marriage Husband had a paramour, and he bought her a diamond ring valued at $10,000, and we can prove and show the receipt – and possibly even the ring – then the spouse who did not spend that money is entitled to reimbursement of $5000 in that situation.

The other situation where an affair may come into play is if the two parties are unfortunately fighting for custody of the minor children or the minor child. And it doesn’t really come into play that mom or dad was having an affair, but the issue really becomes the judgement of that parent when they were having the affair, so if mom or dad was simply dating somebody else, the court’s not really going to view it as that big of a deal. On the other hand, if, let’s say, mom was going out seven nights a week when she should have been at home doing the children’s homework, if dad was out spending thousands of dollars on vacations for his girlfriend while his children couldn’t afford books at school, the court’s going to look at those types of judgement calls, and it may come into play during a custodial fight in a divorce.

By: Laurence B. Hirsch

Does a Spousal Affair Affect my Divorce Case?

Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practise exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. First and foremost, the court doesn’t care about the affair that your spouse had. Our courts are not in the business of making moral judgments, i.e. who slept with who, when they slept with who. More often than not, an affair during the marriage does not come into play during your divorce proceeding.

When Can an Affair have an Impact on the Case?

There are two occasions where an affair can actually have an impact on your case. The first one is when there was waste, that’s also called dissipation. For example, let’s just call it “Husband” for the time being, and Husband was having an affair for the better part of two years during the marriage, and during that affair, Husband was buying his paramour, or his girlfriend, fur coats, diamond rings, taking her on lavish vacations, maybe he helped pay a car. Well, in this situation, where the community income or the earnings of Husband was community, that would be considered community waste, so we’re going to want to take a look at all the bank statements, all the credit card statements, and we are going to take a detailed review as to all of the money that the spouse who is having the affair spent on that other individual. Now, the spouse who is not having the affair is entitled to one half reimbursement of those funds that was spent by the spouse who is having an affair. So, to make it really simplistic, if during the marriage Husband had a paramour, and he bought her a diamond ring valued at $10,000, and we can prove and show the receipt – and possibly even the ring – then the spouse who did not spend that money is entitled to reimbursement of $5000 in that situation.

The other situation where an affair may come into play is if the two parties are unfortunately fighting for custody of the minor children or the minor child. And it doesn’t really come into play that mom or dad was having an affair, but the issue really becomes the judgement of that parent when they were having the affair, so if mom or dad was simply dating somebody else, the court’s not really going to view it as that big of a deal. On the other hand, if, let’s say, mom was going out seven nights a week when she should have been at home doing the children’s homework, if dad was out spending thousands of dollars on vacations for his girlfriend while his children couldn’t afford books at school, the court’s going to look at those types of judgement calls, and it may come into play during a custodial fight in a divorce.

By: Laurence B. Hirsch

What Happens to Retirement Accounts During a Divorce | Phoenix Divorce Laws

Erik Bergstrom

 

Community Property vs Separate Property

In Arizona, all property acquired during the marriage is presumed to be community property, while all property owned prior to the marriage is the sole and separate property of that spouse. In a divorce, the court must allocate the separate property to the appropriate spouse and equitably divide all of the community property between both spouses.

Retirement Accounts

If your retirement account was earned entirely during the marriage, then it is presumed to be community property and will be divided equitably, which basically means equally, if your retirement account was earned partially before marriage and partially during the marriage, then it has both a separate property and community property component. The division of these mixed accounts is much more difficult and often requires an expert, such a financial analyst or CPA, to calculate the separate and community portions of the account.

Qualified Domestic Relations Order

To implement the division of certain retirement accounts, a qualified domestic relations order, or a QDRO, may be required. Division of retirement accounts can be confusing and complicated, and it is recommended that you seek advice from an experienced attorney if these issues are present in your divorce case. If you would like more information, please contact me.

By: Attorney Erik Bergstrom

Community Property vs Separate Property

In Arizona, all property acquired during the marriage is presumed to be community property, while all property owned prior to the marriage is the sole and separate property of that spouse. In a divorce, the court must allocate the separate property to the appropriate spouse and equitably divide all of the community property between both spouses.

Retirement Accounts

If your retirement account was earned entirely during the marriage, then it is presumed to be community property and will be divided equitably, which basically means equally, if your retirement account was earned partially before marriage and partially during the marriage, then it has both a separate property and community property component. The division of these mixed accounts is much more difficult and often requires an expert, such a financial analyst or CPA, to calculate the separate and community portions of the account.

Qualified Domestic Relations Order

To implement the division of certain retirement accounts, a qualified domestic relations order, or a QDRO, may be required. Division of retirement accounts can be confusing and complicated, and it is recommended that you seek advice from an experienced attorney if these issues are present in your divorce case. If you would like more information, please contact me.

By: Attorney Erik Bergstrom

Prenuptial Agreements - Social Media Clause | Phoenix Divorce Laws

Jason Castle

 

Prenuptial Social Media Clause

Hi. I’m Jason Castle. I’m a partner at Jaburg & Wilk. My practice areas focus on family law and criminal defense. Prenuptial agreements have grown in popularity over the last few years. Prenuptial agreements are agreements that become effective at the date of marriage. They’re very broad in what they can cover.

One example of that is a social media clause which is also fairly new and growing in popularity. A social media clause in your agreement would negotiate prior to the marriage how social media will be utilized during the marriage and in the event of a divorce. You can outline, for example, what can and cannot be posted on social media websites. You can also determine who is going to control photos and information that is recorded during your marriage.

Posting Private Photos & Videos

I recently wrote an article about couples that have engaged in private moments and recorded them on film or camera, and the concerns that arise at the point of a divorce when one of the parties decides to post that information on the Internet for the world to see. In the event that you’ve thought of this beforehand and you had a social media clause, you could preclude that, and you could also include sanctions and methods for you to remove the materials from the Internet once it does occur.

By: Jason Castle

Prenuptial Social Media Clause

Hi. I’m Jason Castle. I’m a partner at Jaburg & Wilk. My practice areas focus on family law and criminal defense. Prenuptial agreements have grown in popularity over the last few years. Prenuptial agreements are agreements that become effective at the date of marriage. They’re very broad in what they can cover.

One example of that is a social media clause which is also fairly new and growing in popularity. A social media clause in your agreement would negotiate prior to the marriage how social media will be utilized during the marriage and in the event of a divorce. You can outline, for example, what can and cannot be posted on social media websites. You can also determine who is going to control photos and information that is recorded during your marriage.

Posting Private Photos & Videos

I recently wrote an article about couples that have engaged in private moments and recorded them on film or camera, and the concerns that arise at the point of a divorce when one of the parties decides to post that information on the Internet for the world to see. In the event that you’ve thought of this beforehand and you had a social media clause, you could preclude that, and you could also include sanctions and methods for you to remove the materials from the Internet once it does occur.

By: Jason Castle

C.D. Owens - Profile Video | Scottsdale Family Law

C.D. Owens

 

About C.D. Owens

My name is C.D. Owens. I am 91 years of age and I’ve been practicing law for 64 years. I approach the whole subject on the practice of law on the basis that the best interests of whatever kind of person you’re dealing with at the time, that their problems are paramount and that we are obligated and duty bound ethically and otherwise to give them the very best that we have and we’re pretty good.

C.D. Owens – Experience

I was recently asked by a judge before whom I tried a case in the preceding 4 or 5 hours she came back out to where I was packing up my briefcase, sat on the edge of the table and said C.D. why in the hell are you still doing this? I wonder why you stay with it this long. I said, because I like what I do. These problems will get people off balance so that they can’t even think straight. The biggest problem in that situation is to help ourselves in counseling and get them to the point where they can think straight.

Finding an Attorney

Actually, I think one of the most important things that someone looking for an attorney can and should do, and I always tell them this when they first come to us as prospects, go look at our website, go check our credentials, go check our ratings. We are rated very highly. They should check us out. Always look at the backgrounds and experience of the people when you’re hiring and you’re hiring a lawyer. And don’t hire a lawyer ever, unless you have every confidence that you can depend on that lawyer, that the lawyer can be honest and truthful with you and that they will give 280%.

By: CD Owens

About C.D. Owens

My name is C.D. Owens. I am 91 years of age and I’ve been practicing law for 64 years. I approach the whole subject on the practice of law on the basis that the best interests of whatever kind of person you’re dealing with at the time, that their problems are paramount and that we are obligated and duty bound ethically and otherwise to give them the very best that we have and we’re pretty good.

C.D. Owens – Experience

I was recently asked by a judge before whom I tried a case in the preceding 4 or 5 hours she came back out to where I was packing up my briefcase, sat on the edge of the table and said C.D. why in the hell are you still doing this? I wonder why you stay with it this long. I said, because I like what I do. These problems will get people off balance so that they can’t even think straight. The biggest problem in that situation is to help ourselves in counseling and get them to the point where they can think straight.

Finding an Attorney

Actually, I think one of the most important things that someone looking for an attorney can and should do, and I always tell them this when they first come to us as prospects, go look at our website, go check our credentials, go check our ratings. We are rated very highly. They should check us out. Always look at the backgrounds and experience of the people when you’re hiring and you’re hiring a lawyer. And don’t hire a lawyer ever, unless you have every confidence that you can depend on that lawyer, that the lawyer can be honest and truthful with you and that they will give 280%.

By: CD Owens

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