The Best Interests of the Child

First and foremost, it’s important to understand that for all child custody decisions, the court prioritizes what’s in the best interests of the child over the desires and conveniences of the parents. Arizona family law holds that in most cases, it’s important for the child’s development to maintain relationships with both parents. This changes of course if one or both parents have histories of child abuse, substance abuse, abandonment, or another issue that will hamper the parent’s ability to care for and make decisions for their child. The court decides on two separate types of custody: decision-making rights and parenting time.

Joint Decision-Making

Since Arizona approaches each custody case with an assumption that it’s in the child’s best interests to be raised by both of their parents, most often custody arrangements will divide both decision-making rights and parenting time equally between the parents. This might mean that one parent has medical decision-making rights while the other has the power to decide on other decisions such as educational, or it might mean that all decision-making is divided equally between the two parents. If medical decision-making is shared between both parents, the parenting agreement put in place by the court may also outline how decisions are to be made if the parents cannot come to an agreement.

Sole Decision-Making

In the event that the court determines one parent cannot or should not have decision-making rights, sole decision-making may be awarded to just one parent. This is a possibility if the parent has a history of domestic or child abuse, if they have abandoned their child in the past, or if they have a history of substance abuse that will make responsible shared decision-making difficult. The parenting agreement will dictate the terms of any decision-making and indicate whether the deciding parent still needs to consult with the other parent before making a decision, but ultimately the decision will fall to just the one parent.

Making Your Case for Medical Decision-Making

If you have reason to believe that you should hold sole medical decision-making for your child, it’s imperative that you make a strong case to justify why. As previously noted, Arizona holds that it’s in the best interests of the child to have both parents equally involved in their upbringing, so to be awarded sole decision-making rights you will need to be able to prove that it is not in the best interests of your child to have their other parent involved in the decision-making. Proving this can be difficult, so it’s important to be prepared with strong evidence as to why you are moving to limit the other parent’s involvement.

Finding an Attorney

Before you make your case for child custody, it’s important to find professional guidance. An experienced family law attorney knows how to build a strong case and can help you to avoid common pitfalls. For more information about decision-making and other child custody issues, or to schedule a consultation, contact the Simon Law Group today.

Legal Decision-Making Rights

Back in 2013, Arizona changed the language in their child custody laws. Now instead of saying “legal custody,” we use the term “legal decision-making rights,” as it’s more specific and leaves less grey area for potential conflict. Legal decision-making rights dictate who is responsible for making decisions about things like the child’s health care and education.

Parenting Time

The term “parenting time” replaces what used to be called “physical custody” or visitation, and simply refers to the time a child spends with that parent. Parenting time is typically awarded on a schedule that is outlined in the parenting plan. Regardless of how much time the child spends with each parent or how often they switch houses, parenting time is intended to satisfy the child’s best interests while providing ample opportunity for the child to maintain a relationship with both parents.

Sole Versus Joint Custody

Along with the change in terminology, Arizona has changed its focus to emphasizing the best interests of the child. The state’s view holds that in most cases, it’s the best for the child to maintain relationships with both parents, so Arizona tries to balance decision-making rights and parenting time between both parents as long as doing so is safe for the child. As a result, Arizona frequently assigns joint custody, although sole custody is still a possibility in situations where it is determined to be the best thing for the child.

The Importance of a Parenting Plan

Determining legal custody is only part of the court order. The parenting plan is a court ordered and enforced document that lays out everything from a decision-making tree (in case both co-parents cannot agree on a health or education decision), to a division for parenting time. The parenting plan establishes a schedule of parenting time during the school year as well as during school vacations, and dictates how holidays and special occasions will be shared. Other details, such as religious education and how to go about making changes to the parenting plan, can and should be included as well. Think of this as a detailed guide that will help to minimize fighting between co-parents, and make sure your parenting plan is as thorough as possible.

Trying to decipher terms like legal custody and parenting time can make divorce and child custody proceedings even more overwhelming than they already are, which is just one of several reasons why legal representation can be so beneficial. For help navigating your child custody case, contact Simon Law Group today.

When Do You Need to Go Through the Courts?

Not every move is considered a relocation by Arizona family courts. Arizona only considers one parent’s move to be “relocation” if they’re moving out of state, or at least 100 miles away within the state. In other words, it’s worth it to do the math, as the proposed move might not even need to go through the courts.

If the move does qualify as a relocation, however, both parents have a timeline to adhere to. The parent who is relocating must notify the other parent at least 45 days before the move. And the other parent has only 30 days from the date of the notice to file a petition in court if they object to the move.

Making a Case

Whether you are the parent who is relocating, or the parent who is trying to stop the relocation, it’s important to know what criteria the court will be looking at in order to decide. Your case for or against relocation with children will need to revolve around:

• Motivation for the move. If the move is to further the relocating parent’s career or to be closer to family, for example, the court is likely to be more in favor than if the parent just wants to get away or find a “fresh start.”
• Parental relationships. The quality of the child’s relationship with each parent will also determine the court’s response to a petition to prevent a relocation. If the petitioning parent doesn’t have a strong or consistent relationship with the child, for example, or has a history of avoiding parental responsibilities, the court is more likely to allow the other parent to relocate.
• The child’s quality of life. If you are the relocating parent, it’s important to show that the move will significantly improve the child’s quality of life, whether that is due to increased income, better housing, better schools, or greater access to family and childcare. Conversely, if you are the petitioning parent you may be able to argue that the move will result in a much lower quality of life.

Adjusting Visitation Expectations

An important factor to consider during relocation with children is how the visitation schedule will be impacted. Since Arizona family law starts out by assuming that all decisions should be made in the best interests of the child, and that children typically benefit from good relationships with both parents, decision making rights and parenting time is usually divided as equally as possible between parents. When one parent wishes to relocate, though, frequent parenting time changes become a less viable option.

Instead, co-parents who live far apart from one another typically trade off parenting time for longer chunks of time. For instance, one parent might have the kids during the school year, and the other during school vacations, with alternating holidays. This, of course, requires new strategies for staying in touch with children and coparents.

Find an Arizona Family Law Attorney

It’s important to remember that even if you or your co-parent is planning to relocate out of state, your child custody orders will remain based in Arizona. To consult with an experienced Arizona child custody lawyer about relocation with children, contact Simon Law Group today.

1. Have a good parenting plan in place. One of the first things to establish is a custody agreement with a solid parenting plan. Having this in place from the beginning will help you avoid conflict between you and your co-parent by creating a written plan for you both to follow. A well-thought-out parenting plan will establish everything from a schedule of when you each have parenting time with your child and to how you share the holidays with your child, to who is responsible for making decisions regarding your child’s health and education.
2. Split the time fairly. As you negotiate the parenting plan with your co-parent, it’s important to remember that long distance parenting has some disadvantages. In Arizona, however, decisions are made in the best interests of the child, and the courts believe that in most cases, it’s in the child’s best interests to maintain relationships with both parents. To this end, efforts should be made to divide the time as fairly as possible between the two parents, without disrupting the child’s need for stability and to be in school. In most long distance parenting arrangements, the child stays with one parent while in school, spends school vacations with the other parent, and alternates holidays between the two parents.
3. Stay in touch with your child. Whether you have your child during the school year or during school vacations, it’s important to stay in touch with your child year round. Most long distance parenting plans support and even encourage parents to talk to their children frequently while the other parent has physical custody. Especially if you only see your child during school vacations, regular communication will help to maintain a strong relationship throughout the rest of the year.
4. Take advantage of technology. Fortunately, modern technology provides a lot more opportunities for long distance parents to stay in touch than they used to have. Long distance phone calls aren’t as expensive as they used to be, plus there are many options for video conferencing so that you and your child can feel like you’re talking more “in person.” Even adult-supervised social media apps, such as Messenger Kids, provide a way to stay in more regular contact with your child.
5. Communicate with your co-parent. Of course, your child isn’t the only one you need to stay in touch with. Good communication with your co-parent will help make the entire situation more sustainable for both parents. Especially if you are required to make decisions together, talking regularly will help keep the long distance parent in the loop and prevent the primary caregiver from feeling like they’re doing it all by themselves.

Setting up a long distance parenting agreement can be a delicate process, and many co-parents need the assistance of attorneys. Professional input and guidance helps by taking the emotion and conflict out of the negotiations as much as possible. For more information about our services or to schedule a consultation, contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today.

Holidays and Special Days To Plan For

It’s important to think ahead and plan for holidays and special days that could cause friction between you and your co-parent. Although planning for the holidays probably has you thinking about just the typical winter holidays, there are many other holidays, school vacations, and holiday weekends that could be a source of disagreement. Here are a few to consider as you’re negotiating your parenting plan.

• Major holidays: These are the typical holidays you’re probably thinking of, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, but also include other important family-focused holidays, such as the 4th of July, Halloween, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day.
• Religious holidays: If either you or your co-parent are religious, religious holidays will have to be included as well. Christmas can be considered a religious holiday too, plus others such as Good Friday, Easter, Passover, Ramadan, Diwali, and others, depending on your religion.
• Minor holidays: There are many other, smaller holidays that may have significance to your family, especially those that provide three-day weekends that are commonly used for family vacations, such as Memorial Day and Labor Day.
• Birthdays and special occasions: They may not be holidays, but birthdays and any other important recurring days may need to be given some consideration in the parenting plan.
• School vacations: School vacations may require additional child care, so it’s important to include these in your parenting schedule, along with who is responsible for the child care.

How To Determine Holiday Visitation

Once you have a list of holidays and other important dates that will need to be addressed, you and your co-parent can decide how they’ll fit into your parenting schedule. This may depend a little on whether custody is shared or held by one parent, what the normal parenting schedule looks like, and what makes sense to you and your co-parent.

• Splitting: If neither parent is willing to give up important days, such as Christmas and birthdays, you can split the day. This would mean the child spending half the day with one parent and half with the other, so it’s best for co-parents who have a good working relationship with one another as well as a habit of punctuality. Splitting also works well for school vacations, such as spring break.
• Alternating: To avoid the hassle of dividing an important day in half, many co-parents opt for alternating holidays. For example, one year you might get Thanksgiving and your co-parent might get Christmas, and the next year you’d switch. Alternating also works well for addressing three-day weekends.
• No changes: Sometimes you might not need to change the parenting schedule at all, such as for certain minor holidays or summer vacations. You can simply continue with your regular parenting schedule.
• Long distance: If you and your co-parent live too far apart to use a more frequently alternating parenting schedule, most likely one parent will have the kids during the school year and the other parent will get them during vacations, with alternating major holidays.

Planning for holiday visitation is an important part of setting up a parenting plan, but it doesn’t always go smoothly. If you need assistance negotiating a fair parenting plan, contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today.

Choose Carefully What You Tell Them

It’s important to be honest with kids about the divorce, but there is such a thing as telling them too much. Plan carefully what you’ll say so that you keep them out of the fray as much as possible. Explain the facts without getting into the nitty-gritty. Remember, the goal is for them to understand the divorce but not to be drawn into the fighting. Avoiding putting them in a position where you confide in them too much or put them in a position of having to choose sides.

Surround Them With a Support Network

You’re entering a confusing time for your kids, and it’s important to realize that right now they need a support network other than their parents. Encourage their grandparents and other extended family members and friends to let your kids know they’re there for them, as they may not want to talk to you about some of their feelings and fears regarding the divorce. Having people they can depend on during this difficult and upsetting period in their life will help them cope with it better.

Get Professional Help

Going through a divorce with kids can be traumatic for everyone, but especially for the children, who aren’t mature enough to understand or cope with what’s happening. Even with the support network of extended family and friends, your kids may need someone professional to talk to, someone who can guide them and teach them important coping mechanisms during this difficult time. Don’t hesitate to seek out the assistance of a counselor or therapist, for your kids’ benefit and possibly for your own as well.

Don’t Fight in Front of Them

Even if you used to fight in front of the kids, now that you are divorcing, try to shield the kids from any further fighting. As you get further into the divorce, the fights have the potential to get uglier, and the kids don’t need to see you fighting over money or possessions, let alone over them. If you can, redirect the fighting entirely by letting all of the important negotiations and decisions go through the lawyers and the courts.

Put Your Kids First

This is going to be a tough time for both your kids and you, but you can find your way through it by remembering to always put your kids first. You’re going through a divorce presumably because you’ve realized that your marriage is no longer healthy for yourself, but probably also because it’s the best thing for your kids. Remembering to put your kids’ needs first will help you to make good decisions as you navigate the separation and divorce.

Bonus Tip: Find a Good Attorney

You can relieve yourself of a lot of stress, and therefore improve the situation for your children, by hiring a good attorney to manage your divorce. Having an attorney to run things during a divorce with kids means less pressure on you and your ex to make decisions, fewer opportunities to fight, and (hopefully) less stress for the kids throughout the process too. Contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today for a consultation of your case, and start building a better life for your kids today.

Legal Parents

If you are legally considered a parent of the child, you automatically have full parenting rights and responsibilities. To be legally considered the parent, you must have given birth to the child, been married to the mother when she gave birth, established paternity through legal procedures, or legally adopted the child.

Arizona family courts assume that it is in the child’s best interests to maintain relationships with both parents unless proven otherwise, so if this applies to you, chances are good that you will get equal decision making rights and parenting time as your co-parent. If you can’t come to an agreement with your co-parent, though, it’ll be up to the judge to decide, based on the case presented in court. Fortunately, because Arizona family law is focused on what is best for the child, it’s unlikely that the court will completely sever the relationship between a legal parent and the child. Even if there are reasons why you can’t have primary custody, you are likely to still have visitation rights.

Fathers Unmarried at the Time of Birth

If you are the father but weren’t married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth, you may have some additional hurdles to cross, but will ultimately still have the same parental rights as the mother. If you are not already legally recognized as the child’s parent, you will need to petition the court to establish paternity. Paternity is most easily established when the child is born if both parents willingly sign the form, but the court can order paternity testing if the mother is not cooperating. Once paternity is established, you will be able to pursue parenting and visitation rights in court.

Grandparents

In Arizona, even grandparents can be granted court ordered visitation. This is possible because Arizona courts make decisions in the best interests of the child, and this often includes maintaining relationships with extended family, especially after a traumatic divorce or the loss of one parent. Grandparents can pursue visitation rights in cases of divorce, if the parents weren’t married, or if one parent is missing or has passed away.

Step-Parents or Non-related Third Parties

Even step parents or non-related third parties may be granted visitation rights if they can prove they were an important part of the child’s life, and that being separated from them would be detrimental to the child’s development. Arizona family courts make decisions based on what is best for the child, so if a step-parent was a primary caregiver for a long time, or an otherwise important adult in the child’s life, it may be worth petitioning the court for visitation.

Regardless of your situation and who you are to the child, it’s important to have legal representation when pursuing visitation through the Arizona family courts. While the child best interests should be the basis of any court decision, an experienced, aggressive  family law attorney can present your case in a clear and decisive manner. To schedule a consultation, contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today.

That being said, spousal support isn’t uncommon. Especially if you meet one or more of the following conditions, you may be entitled to some level of support in order to help you get back on your feet following the divorce.

1. You’re unable to provide for your needs. If getting a divorce will cause you to be unable to support yourself, because you are unemployed, underemployed, or lack sufficient property to support yourself, you may be able to get spousal maintenance to help support you until you are able to support yourself. Typically, the duration of support is about a third to a half of the duration of the marriage, which means that the longer you were married, the longer your alimony will last.
2. You invested financially in improving your spouse’s earning ability. If you worked to support the family while your spouse went to college, for instance, your years of working hard to enable your spouse to earn more someday shouldn’t be overlooked. You invested both money and hard work into your spouse, and as a result, you may be entitled to some spousal support now.
3. You gave up multiple years of your own career and earning ability to benefit your spouse’s earning ability. Some jobs don’t really allow a person to juggle both work and parenting, so the other spouse will stay home, either part-time or full-time, so that they can be the parent on-call for when the kids need something. If you stayed home and sacrificed your own career so that your spouse could perform better in theirs, you may be able to make a case for spousal support. Even though you never contributed financially to improve your spouse’s earning power, you contributed hours of work and sacrificed your own earning power by putting your family first.
4. You care for a disabled child that prohibits you from working and achieving financial independence. If you are the primary caregiver for a disabled child you had with your spouse, you may be unable to pursue a career outside the home, and therefore could not support yourself financially in time. In this case, your support would likely be ongoing, and would be considered separate from any child support order to cover the child’s needs.
5. You were married and out of work for a long time, and/or are old enough that it’ll be difficult to find work that will lead to financial independence. If you were a homemaker for many years during a long marriage, it’ll most likely be difficult to jump start your career now, especially if you’re old enough to retire or be near retirement. In cases like these, alimony is not used as a bridge to help a spouse become financially independent again. Since that’s not likely to happen for you, you’re more likely to be awarded alimony on an ongoing basis.

Divorce is challenging enough when you’re financially stable, but when you could realistically end up homeless and penniless, it can be absolutely terrifying. To find out whether you would qualify for spousal support, or to start proceedings for “pendente lite” to support you while the divorce is pending, contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today.

Who They Work For

Typically, when you and your ex aren’t able to come to an agreement together on your own, you have the option to go through divorce mediation before taking your case to court. There are independent private mediators (retired judges or family law practioners) but most of the time, you will use a court-appointed mediator to try to resolve your differences and avoid a court battle.

In contrast, you hire a divorce attorney yourself to represent your case. Most of the time you’ll take this step long before you get to the point of needing mediation, but it helps to have an attorney in your corner. Ultimately, though, your lawyer works for you, and your ex has their own lawyer who works for them.

Their Purpose

Even more important, is the role in your divorce. Divorce mediation is an attempt to resolve unsettled issues without the need of an expensive, drawn out  court battle, so a mediator is always a neutral third party. Because they don’t have ties to either spouse, they can help negotiate a compromise that both parties can agree to.

Your attorney, on the other hand, is there to watch out for your interests. Ideally, you hired them at the beginning of the divorce proceedings, so they’re fully aware of the issues going into mediation. While the mediator is going to try to guide everyone to a compromise, your attorney will be there to make sure that any compromise made in mediation is fair to you and in the best interests of your children.

Their Ongoing Relationship To Your Case

Divorce mediation takes up a relatively small time period over the course of your divorce. Negotiations have likely been ongoing for some time before you meet with a mediator, and there still is plenty to do after mediation is finished. Your mediator is a part of your divorce for a rather short period of time, all said and done.

Your attorney is the one who is with you over the long haul. Hopefully you brought them in early in the proceedings, and even after mediation is over, they’ll still be in the picture for a long time afterward. If mediation is unable to bring both you and your ex to an agreement, your lawyer will present your case in court, where the judge will make a final decision. Either way, once a divorce agreement is finalized, your attorney will help finalize anything else that remains to be done.

The Importance of a Good Divorce Attorney

As you prepare for divorce mediation, don’t make the mistake of thinking that a mediator and divorce attorney are interchangeable or do the same job. To ensure you don’t get taken advantage of, it’s important to have an experienced attorney in your corner. To discuss your case and how you could benefit from legal representation during mediation, contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today.

1. Maintain boundaries. If you have a combative ex who is always looking for dirt to use against you, it’ll be important to maintain boundaries as co-parents in a shared custody situation. Don’t get sucked into conversations and overshare personal information, and don’t allow your co-parents to ask for exceptions to the parenting agreement all the time, no matter now nice they’re being. Remember, even if it benefits your child to work together as co-parents, you do have separate lives now, and the parenting agreement is in place to allow you to both pursue your own lives while avoiding misunderstandings about where they connect.
2. Don’t get emotional. It’s also important not to get emotionally involved or allow yourself to be dragged into drama with your co-parent. Remember, you are not in an emotional relationship with this person anymore, so there is no reason to get into emotional arguments or allow them to use manipulation against you. Minimize conversations to what is necessary to take care of your child, and quickly end any conversation that starts to get too emotional or manipulative.
3. Put your child first. Part of staying above all the drama and emotion is remembering that as a parent, your child’s wellbeing has to come first and foremost. For most children, it’s for their benefit to maintain a long-term relationship with both parents. Also try to remember that a parent needs to be a parent and not a friend, so your child’s relationship with your co-parent isn’t always going to be happy. Try to avoid the urge to interfere with every interaction between your child and your ex. Remember that even if you are no longer together, you are still raising a child together via shared custody, and parenting your child as a team needs to be your first priority.
4. Take advantage of time to yourself. Shared custody has one major advantage for single parents: Time away from your child. When your child is with your co-parent, it gives you valuable time to run errands without kids, go out without having to figure out a babysitter, and practice self-care. Take full advantage of this time to recharge and get things done, as it’ll help you be at your best when you’re with your child or dealing with your co-parent.
5. Seek legal counsel when needed. If you have a combative or manipulative co-parent, it’s important to make sure you know your rights, and especially important that you stick to the parenting agreement. If your co-parent is taking advantage or violating the agreement on a regular basis, consult with a lawyer. You may have more legal recourse than you realize.

Shared custody may be challenging, but it is totally survivable if you maintain your boundaries, take the best care of yourself and your child that you know how, and know your rights as well as your responsibilities. If you have concerns, however, don’t hesitate to reach out to legal counsel. For a consultation on your case, contact Simon Law Group, PLLC, today.