Arizona Divorce Attorney-No-Fault Divorce

When separating spouses contact divorce attorneys in Phoenix, one or both may expect a contentious process. This is because the Phoenix divorce process is not unlike everywhere else. It is an emotional time involving feelings that range from disappointment to confusion to anger. Worse, key decisions affecting the financial future of you and your children are played out in a court, surrendering hugely important decisions to a judge. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are different ways to file for divorce, providing options for the nature of your marriage dissolution. In simplest terms:

• Contested divorce: In Phoenix, this is when one spouse either disagrees with the divorce itself, or the terms of child custody or division of assets and debts.

• Uncontested divorce: In Phoenix, as the name implies, when you file for divorce and both spouses are in agreement on the break up as well as asset and debt distributions and child care arrangements, it is an uncontested divorce.

• Collaborative divorce: In Phoenix, a divorce attorney should always offer clients this option, because it looks at the comprehensive picture of marriage dissolution and tries to identify the best outcomes for both parties and the rest of the family.

The Best Phoenix Divorce Lawyers will explain your rights and responsibilities when involved in a divorce in Arizona.  Arizona is a No-Fault Divorce state.  No-fault simply means that the court makes no ruling or determination of who is at fault for the breakup of the marriage.  This can have a powerful impact on your case.  This also makes the process easier by being able to focus on the important issues of your case.  There are four main areas that we will examine and focus on when working with you; division of property, spousal maintenance, child support, and child custody.

Division of Property

Arizona is a community property state.  The court will focus on the equitable division of property and finances gained while the marriage existed.  It is important to remember that equitable does not mean equal and the court will rarely provide a simple 50/50 split of community property and assets.  Separate Property is property that was brought to the marriage by both individuals and acquired before the marriage existed.  This type of property is exempt from distribution during a divorce.  Working with the Best Phoenix Divorce Lawyers at Enholm & Salekin is your best opportunity to insure your issues are aggressively addressed during this process while protecting your rights.

Spousal Maintenance

Spousal Maintenance is commonly known as Alimony and is awarded solely at the discretion of the court.  If the marriage was of short duration, the chances of being awarded Spousal Maintenance are at a minimum.  If the marriage was of a long duration, the court examines the ability of the person seeking spousal maintenance to be financially self-sufficient.  If the court finds that the person who is seeking spousal maintenance is deemed financially self-sufficient, alimony is usually not granted.  Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 25-319 governs Spousal Maintenance.

Child Support

Unlike Spousal Maintenance, Child Support in Arizona is highly regulated by using the Arizona Child Support Guidelines to assess and enforce support.  The courts will also make use of the Arizona Child Support Calculator.  The Calculator is designed to aid the court to how to best determine the amount of support, and the length of time, should be paid.  Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 25-403 is called “The Best Interests of the Child”.  This statute was written to minimize any undue financial hardships for the child when parents get divorced.  It is the legal responsibility of every parent to provide for their children, natural or adopted.

Child Custody

In January of 2013, Arizona divided Child Custody into two individual entities called Parenting Time and Legal Decision Making.  The Arizona court you are involved with will make every effort to insure that your child will receive equal and meaningful visitation with both parents.  Parenting Time is critical to the best interests of the child under Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 25-403.  Significant dangers to the child’s moral, physical or emotional wellbeing have to be proven in order for anything other than equal and meaningful visitation to occur.  Legal Decision Making involves who will be making the major decisions that will include education, medical, religious and other important decisions.  In Arizona, one parent may be awarded sole legal custody or both parents can share equal decision making.  In some cases, both parents have shared Legal Decision Making rights but one parent will have the final say in the eyes of the court.