Divorce is a court process to legally end a marriage. In Arizona, divorce is called “Dissolution of Marriage.” A divorce proceeding will address the division of community assets and liabilities including retirement benefits and spousal maintenance. When there are minor children, it will also address custody, parenting time and child support.
Arizona is a no-fault state. Unless you have Covenant Marriage, the only grounds for divorce is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The person filing for divorce will swear to this in their initial Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. If you have a non-covenant marriage, like most people do, you can not get a divorce based on the grounds of adultery, abandonment, abuse or neglect.
In Maricopa County, most uncontested divorce actions can be completed in about 75-90 days.
Arizona does not recognize common-law marriages.
A Legal Separation in Arizona addresses all of the issues that a divorce addresses, except that the parties are still legally married. This is sometimes referred to as a “financial divorce,” but it is not a divorce. It divides all of the assets and liabilities, addresses child custody, support andparenting time and allows continue to be legally married without being subject to “community property” rules. A legal separation requires that both parties are in agreement.
One spouse, called the Petitioner, files a document called a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (along with several other documents) with the Clerk of the Court in his or her county of residence. The other spouse, called the Respondent is then served with the Petition and the other documents. If the Respondent does not agree with what the Petitioner is requesting in the Petition, the Respondent must file a Response no later than 20 days (30 days if served out of state) after he or she was served with the documents. If the Respondent fails to file a written Response within the time allowed, the Petitioner can apply to the court for a default. The Petitioner must then file an Application for Entry of Default with the court and mail a copy to the Respondent. The Respondent then has another ten days to file a Response. If the Respondent still does not file a Response within ten days from the date the Application for Entry of Default is filed and mailed, then the Petitioner can proceed with the dissolution hearing.
If the parties are completely in agreement, in divorce and some other cases, the matter can often be completed without either party ever having to physically set foot in the court house. In many cases, the parties can sign a Consent Decree, which is filed by the attorney with the court. The judge will then review and sign the Consent Decree and then mail the signed copies to each side.
To file a new Divorce, at least one of the parties must have been residing in Arizona for at least 90 days. However, generally, the Court does not acquire jurisdiction over the children until they have resided in Arizona for at least 180 days. As a result, except in those cases of emergencies, unless the children have resided in at least 180 days in the state of Arizona prior to filing a petition involving custody and parenting time, the Arizona Court could not have jurisdiction to enter such orders regarding minor children.
If a Petition is filed and served on a spouse the spouse has two options: do nothing if the spouse agrees with what is in the Petition or file a Response if the spouse does not agree with what is in the Petition. However be careful! The failure to file a Response will result in a Divorce Decree being entered and the spouse will have no input into that Decree. Often the filing spouse tells the other spouse not to worry that n answer is not required and no Response is file. Suddenly the spouse that did not Respond finds himself or herself without custody and owing child support and/or spousal maintenance.
