Property and business What property or business ventures do you and your spouse share, and which are yours independently? A primary purpose of the many conversations between you and your spouse will involve the divvying up of your property and assets. This also includes deciding who is responsible for the debt that either or both of you may have incurred over the years.
Children
If you and your spouse have children together, this will likely be the most difficult and involved aspect of your divorce. You and your spouse will be asked to come to an agreement on various issues such as:- Legal decision making – This decides who will have the legal authority to make official decisions for the children about schools, extracurriculars, and other questions of permission that come up with kids. Arizona courts strongly favor giving both parents joint legal decision making power, and encourage positive co-parenting.
- Residency – Who will live where and when?
- Child support – Living arrangements and income amounts will factor strongly into whether or not one parent will be asked to pay child support to the other.
- Tax deduction – Which parent will claim which child as a dependent on their taxe?
- Visitation – Not just a matter of parental visitation (in the case of sole legal decision making) this can also determine when grandparents, relatives, step-parents, and other people can spend time with the children.
- Religious upbringing – If opinions differ about preferred religion, this process will be a time to discuss the details of what is permitted and when.
