Arizona Family Law Laws

Sole Legal Custody | Scottsdale Family Law

Alan Cochran

 

Sole Legal Custody in Scottsdale

A parent granted sole custody, now referred to as sole legal decision-making, has the authority to make final decisions regarding the major life decisions affecting the parent’s children. Such as where the children will attend school, the healthcare the children receive, and the extracurricular activities the children will participate in regardless of the opinion of the other parent.

The other parent is still entitled to obtain information regarding his or her children’s performance in school, performance in extracurricular activities and healthcare from the other parent or directly from the provider of those services. Legal custody means the right and responsibility to make decisions for children, barring any specific court orders to the contrary.

Sole legal decision-making provides one parent to make the final decision on big day to day decisions for the children’s care and welfare without consulting the other parent, including education, medicine, and religion.

Why Courts Award Sole Custody

Examples where the court may award sole legal decision-making, would include those times where you have drug and alcohol abuse by one parent or the other, substantial child neglect or abuse claims, or convictions, domestic violence where the children were present, harmed, or in danger. As well as child endangerment, including DUIs while having the children in your car.

Major Decision Exceptions

The visitation parent is expected by the court to conform to big decisions by the sole legal decision-making parent in all day to day decisions when children are with him or her. The exception to that would be private school. Sole legal decision-making parent cannot require the other parent, known as a visitation parent, to contribute to the cost of private-schooling if enrolled without the consent of the visitation parent or the court per the child support guidelines.

School records are also an area where both parents have access to records regarding the children, including medical records, school and extracurricular activity records. Those records are available through the sole legal decision-making parent or from the provider of the service. Except in cases where courts find giving one parent access to records creates a danger to the children. If you are in need of a professional or experienced attorney to represent you and your children’s best interest in any family law matter, please call Alan Cochran at Hildebrand Law PC at 480-305-8300 to schedule an appointment.

By: Alan Cochran

Sole Legal Custody in Scottsdale

A parent granted sole custody, now referred to as sole legal decision-making, has the authority to make final decisions regarding the major life decisions affecting the parent’s children. Such as where the children will attend school, the healthcare the children receive, and the extracurricular activities the children will participate in regardless of the opinion of the other parent.

The other parent is still entitled to obtain information regarding his or her children’s performance in school, performance in extracurricular activities and healthcare from the other parent or directly from the provider of those services. Legal custody means the right and responsibility to make decisions for children, barring any specific court orders to the contrary.

Sole legal decision-making provides one parent to make the final decision on big day to day decisions for the children’s care and welfare without consulting the other parent, including education, medicine, and religion.

Why Courts Award Sole Custody

Examples where the court may award sole legal decision-making, would include those times where you have drug and alcohol abuse by one parent or the other, substantial child neglect or abuse claims, or convictions, domestic violence where the children were present, harmed, or in danger. As well as child endangerment, including DUIs while having the children in your car.

Major Decision Exceptions

The visitation parent is expected by the court to conform to big decisions by the sole legal decision-making parent in all day to day decisions when children are with him or her. The exception to that would be private school. Sole legal decision-making parent cannot require the other parent, known as a visitation parent, to contribute to the cost of private-schooling if enrolled without the consent of the visitation parent or the court per the child support guidelines.

School records are also an area where both parents have access to records regarding the children, including medical records, school and extracurricular activity records. Those records are available through the sole legal decision-making parent or from the provider of the service. Except in cases where courts find giving one parent access to records creates a danger to the children. If you are in need of a professional or experienced attorney to represent you and your children’s best interest in any family law matter, please call Alan Cochran at Hildebrand Law PC at 480-305-8300 to schedule an appointment.

By: Alan Cochran

Dividing Divorce Property | Scottsdale Family Law

Kevin Park

 

Dividing Property in Scottsdale Divorce

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

Dividing Property in Scottsdale Divorce

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

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

Who is Required to Report Child Abuse in Arizona?

Kip Micuda

 

State law requires that any person who has a reasonable belief that a child is a victim of intentional physical injury, abuse or neglect, report their beliefs to either law enforcement or child protective services. Other people that have a mandate to make reports to Child Protective Services are medical providers, mental health providers, parents, guardians, educators and law enforcement. When a report is made, perhaps the easiest thing to do is to actually call child protective services at 1-888-SOS-CHILD. When you make a report, you should expect to give CPS contact information about the child’s parents, identification information about the child, and of course the nature of the allegations that are being made. If you’d like to talk to me further about your question as to reporting abuse or neglect to child protective services, please give me a call at Hildebrand Law. (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

State law requires that any person who has a reasonable belief that a child is a victim of intentional physical injury, abuse or neglect, report their beliefs to either law enforcement or child protective services. Other people that have a mandate to make reports to Child Protective Services are medical providers, mental health providers, parents, guardians, educators and law enforcement. When a report is made, perhaps the easiest thing to do is to actually call child protective services at 1-888-SOS-CHILD. When you make a report, you should expect to give CPS contact information about the child’s parents, identification information about the child, and of course the nature of the allegations that are being made. If you’d like to talk to me further about your question as to reporting abuse or neglect to child protective services, please give me a call at Hildebrand Law. (480) 305-8300. Thank you.

By: Attorney Kip Micuda

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

Am I Eligible to Receive Alimony | Scottsdale Family Law

Chris Hildebrand

 

Receiving Alimony in Scottsdale

Hello, I want to speak to you today about whether you may be eligible for spousal maintenance in Arizona. The court is going to look at a variety of factors to determine whether you are eligible for spousal maintenance, as well as the amount and duration of that spousal maintenance award.

Although there are many factors the court will look at, as a general overview, usually the more important factors include, the differences in the parties income, the amount of assets that each spouse will take from the marriage and the length of the marriage. Now there is certainly many more factors under the statute that the court will also consider, but in most cases those are the most important factors for the court to consider. If you any other questions regarding whether you are eligible for spousal maintenance in the state of Arizona, please feel free to contact me.

If you still have questions regarding whether or not you are eligible to receive alimony in Arizona, please contact a Scottsdale alimony lawyer.

By: Chris Hildebrand

Receiving Alimony in Scottsdale

Hello, I want to speak to you today about whether you may be eligible for spousal maintenance in Arizona. The court is going to look at a variety of factors to determine whether you are eligible for spousal maintenance, as well as the amount and duration of that spousal maintenance award.

Although there are many factors the court will look at, as a general overview, usually the more important factors include, the differences in the parties income, the amount of assets that each spouse will take from the marriage and the length of the marriage. Now there is certainly many more factors under the statute that the court will also consider, but in most cases those are the most important factors for the court to consider. If you any other questions regarding whether you are eligible for spousal maintenance in the state of Arizona, please feel free to contact me.

If you still have questions regarding whether or not you are eligible to receive alimony in Arizona, please contact a Scottsdale alimony lawyer.

By: Chris Hildebrand

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