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.
Prenuptial agreements are generally enforceable in Arizona courts. There are some pre-requisites though that are required before a prenuptial agreement can be enforced by a court. Number one, the court has to find that it was in writing and made in contemplation of marriage. Secondly, it can’t be unconscionable. If it’s unconscionable, that means it’s not fair, certain requirements weren’t made for financial disclosure or the waiver of financial disclosures, or that the provisions of the agreement were repugnant to the sense of justice. Each case is uniquely different and we’d be happy to look at your case individually. If you’d like to talk to us more about that, feel free to email me.
Prenuptial agreements are generally enforceable in Arizona courts. There are some pre-requisites though that are required before a prenuptial agreement can be enforced by a court. Number one, the court has to find that it was in writing and made in contemplation of marriage. Secondly, it can’t be unconscionable. If it’s unconscionable, that means it’s not fair, certain requirements weren’t made for financial disclosure or the waiver of financial disclosures, or that the provisions of the agreement were repugnant to the sense of justice. Each case is uniquely different and we’d be happy to look at your case individually. If you’d like to talk to us more about that, feel free to email me.
Hi. I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a state board of Arizona certified specialist in family law, and I practice at Jaburg and Wilk.
The amount of time it takes for your divorce to be finale is different in everyone’s case. It’s driven by a number of factors. The first is whether other professionals need to be brought into the case, such as custody evaluators or business appraisers. They are the major factor in terms of how long it will take your divorce to be finale, is whether your case goes to trial. If we resolve your case short of trial, it will typically take less time. If we have to go to trial, then we have to deal with the judge’s calendar. Most judges are setting trails three to six months out, so by the time you know you need to go to trial you might wait another three to six months, and your case might not be resolved for over a year.
The amount of attorney’s fees you incur in your divorce largely depends on the reasonableness of the positions that each party takes during the course of the proceedings. If your case is a high conflict case and where people take unreasonable positions, it will take longer for us to help you through the process, and therefore you incur more in fees. Truly is impossible to predict in the beginning of your case how much you’re going to incur in attorney’s fees, because we don’t know what positions the other side is going to take. As your case develops, as we get information, we’ll at some point have a good idea of how much you’ll incur in fees and be able to predict that for you.
Hi. I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a state board of Arizona certified specialist in family law, and I practice at Jaburg and Wilk.
The amount of time it takes for your divorce to be finale is different in everyone’s case. It’s driven by a number of factors. The first is whether other professionals need to be brought into the case, such as custody evaluators or business appraisers. They are the major factor in terms of how long it will take your divorce to be finale, is whether your case goes to trial. If we resolve your case short of trial, it will typically take less time. If we have to go to trial, then we have to deal with the judge’s calendar. Most judges are setting trails three to six months out, so by the time you know you need to go to trial you might wait another three to six months, and your case might not be resolved for over a year.
The amount of attorney’s fees you incur in your divorce largely depends on the reasonableness of the positions that each party takes during the course of the proceedings. If your case is a high conflict case and where people take unreasonable positions, it will take longer for us to help you through the process, and therefore you incur more in fees. Truly is impossible to predict in the beginning of your case how much you’re going to incur in attorney’s fees, because we don’t know what positions the other side is going to take. As your case develops, as we get information, we’ll at some point have a good idea of how much you’ll incur in fees and be able to predict that for you.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hi. I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a board certified family law specialist, and I practice at Jaburg & Wilk.
Community property in Arizona is- it creates a presumption that everything that’s acquired during the marriage by either spouse is owned by the community. It means it’s owned by them jointly. They each have an undivided 100% interest in all of the community property.
If you put money into a business and started the business before marriage, the character of your assets doesn’t change by virtue of you getting married. So if you come into the marriage with a business that’s a growing concern, that business is your separate property. The difficulty is if you are working in the business and the business increases in value during the marriage. How to apportion the increase in value between what the business was in terms of it’s value and earning potential at the time of the marriage, at which time it was your separate property, and how it’s changed during the course of the marriage. Those are very difficult questions to answer, and require typically experts to do that kind of evaluation.
There is a relatively easy way to protect your business or any other separate property before you get married. And that is to have a premarital agreement. Premarital agreements are presumptively enforceable in the state of Arizona. We have adopted something called the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. And under the Act, as long as you follow certain guidelines, there is a very strong probability that the court will enforce that agreement.
They need to be prepared for a forensic evaluation of their business. Someone is going to be looking at all of the personal benefits they get from the business, and attempting to quantify them. They’re going to be looking for any unusual transactions, they’re going to be looking for any unusual activity in the business that suggest that somebody might be divorce planning. And so what you want to do, is you want to operate as you always have to the extent that you can, and if there is some event or occurrence that causes you to need to do something special, you want to document it as best you can.
Hi. I’m Mitch Reichman. I’m a board certified family law specialist, and I practice at Jaburg & Wilk.
Community property in Arizona is- it creates a presumption that everything that’s acquired during the marriage by either spouse is owned by the community. It means it’s owned by them jointly. They each have an undivided 100% interest in all of the community property.
If you put money into a business and started the business before marriage, the character of your assets doesn’t change by virtue of you getting married. So if you come into the marriage with a business that’s a growing concern, that business is your separate property. The difficulty is if you are working in the business and the business increases in value during the marriage. How to apportion the increase in value between what the business was in terms of it’s value and earning potential at the time of the marriage, at which time it was your separate property, and how it’s changed during the course of the marriage. Those are very difficult questions to answer, and require typically experts to do that kind of evaluation.
There is a relatively easy way to protect your business or any other separate property before you get married. And that is to have a premarital agreement. Premarital agreements are presumptively enforceable in the state of Arizona. We have adopted something called the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. And under the Act, as long as you follow certain guidelines, there is a very strong probability that the court will enforce that agreement.
They need to be prepared for a forensic evaluation of their business. Someone is going to be looking at all of the personal benefits they get from the business, and attempting to quantify them. They’re going to be looking for any unusual transactions, they’re going to be looking for any unusual activity in the business that suggest that somebody might be divorce planning. And so what you want to do, is you want to operate as you always have to the extent that you can, and if there is some event or occurrence that causes you to need to do something special, you want to document it as best you can.
Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Arizona has a case called [?], and that case has allowed the spouse that doesn’t own the business to actually have an interest in the appreciation and value of that business during the course of the marriage. What we’re looking at is labor, toil, and efforts of the community. Best way to think about this is, if I have a sole and separate business and I’m actually doing something to help that business, my spouse may have a claim to my sole and separate property.
This same situation can occur with separate property homes. So let’s say that you get married, and you have a house that’s worth $500,000. Your community earnings bought the new pool, the new landscaping, and put in the addition, and when you file for divorce that house is worth $1.5 million, so you’ve got $1,000,000 of appreciation during the marriage. Is it fair that the spouse who owned the house coming into the marriage receives all $1,000,000 of appreciation? The courts in Arizona don’t typically think so. So those are two situations where your sole and separate property is not necessarily 100% your sole and separate property. Always be wary that there may be what we call a community lien on your separate property.
Hi. My name is Larry Hirsch, and I practice exclusively in the domestic relations group at Jaburg & Wilk. Arizona has a case called [?], and that case has allowed the spouse that doesn’t own the business to actually have an interest in the appreciation and value of that business during the course of the marriage. What we’re looking at is labor, toil, and efforts of the community. Best way to think about this is, if I have a sole and separate business and I’m actually doing something to help that business, my spouse may have a claim to my sole and separate property.
This same situation can occur with separate property homes. So let’s say that you get married, and you have a house that’s worth $500,000. Your community earnings bought the new pool, the new landscaping, and put in the addition, and when you file for divorce that house is worth $1.5 million, so you’ve got $1,000,000 of appreciation during the marriage. Is it fair that the spouse who owned the house coming into the marriage receives all $1,000,000 of appreciation? The courts in Arizona don’t typically think so. So those are two situations where your sole and separate property is not necessarily 100% your sole and separate property. Always be wary that there may be what we call a community lien on your separate property.
A divorce, an annulment, and a legal separation are all very similar in many respects, so there are a couple of important key differences that you should understand. When asked to enter a divorce, annulment, or a legal separation, the court is required to enter specific orders. If there are children involved, the court is required to make orders as to child support. The court is also required to enter orders explaining which parent is going to have the parenting time with the children and which parent, or both parents are going to have the legal decision-making for the child. Even if there are no children involved, the court is required to enter orders as to spousal support. Also, the court is required to enter orders dividing up the assets and debt of the parties. In those respects, a divorce, an annulment, and a legal separation are all very similar.
Now, the differences are also important to understand. In a divorce, the judge is essentially saying, “I now pronounce the parties no longer man and wife”. With an annulment, the judge is saying, “We’re going to pretend that you guys were never really married”. With a legal separation, the parties actually remain married, but the court has divided up all the assets and debts. In a legal separation case, if the parties are able to reconcile the marriage, the court can remove the legal separation, and they are back to being married. If you would like more information, please contact me at (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online.
For additional information on divorce, annulment and legal separation in Arizona, please visit a profile and complete a contact form.
A divorce, an annulment, and a legal separation are all very similar in many respects, so there are a couple of important key differences that you should understand. When asked to enter a divorce, annulment, or a legal separation, the court is required to enter specific orders. If there are children involved, the court is required to make orders as to child support. The court is also required to enter orders explaining which parent is going to have the parenting time with the children and which parent, or both parents are going to have the legal decision-making for the child. Even if there are no children involved, the court is required to enter orders as to spousal support. Also, the court is required to enter orders dividing up the assets and debt of the parties. In those respects, a divorce, an annulment, and a legal separation are all very similar.
Now, the differences are also important to understand. In a divorce, the judge is essentially saying, “I now pronounce the parties no longer man and wife”. With an annulment, the judge is saying, “We’re going to pretend that you guys were never really married”. With a legal separation, the parties actually remain married, but the court has divided up all the assets and debts. In a legal separation case, if the parties are able to reconcile the marriage, the court can remove the legal separation, and they are back to being married. If you would like more information, please contact me at (480) 733-6800, or you can visit us online.
For additional information on divorce, annulment and legal separation in Arizona, please visit a profile and complete a contact form.
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
A judge can decide a number of things in your divorce case. Most commonly, the judge will divide your assets, the judge will divide your debts, and if you have common children with your spouse, the judge will award child support to the custodial parents or outline parenting time in the parenting plan, but each case is different so you’ll need an attorney that will be able to identify all of your legal issues and make sure that they make it into the decree either by consent or through trial. If you’d like to discuss your divorce case with me, feel free to email me.
A judge can decide a number of things in your divorce case. Most commonly, the judge will divide your assets, the judge will divide your debts, and if you have common children with your spouse, the judge will award child support to the custodial parents or outline parenting time in the parenting plan, but each case is different so you’ll need an attorney that will be able to identify all of your legal issues and make sure that they make it into the decree either by consent or through trial. If you’d like to discuss your divorce case with me, feel free to email me.
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