Arizona Family Legal Questions

If your daughter died before signing the settlement papers, then an estate would have to be opened up in order for a judge to allow the papers to be signed by the executor of the estate and then distributed to the beneficiaries. If she died without a will and she did not identify her beneficiaries, then the settlement proceeds would pass to her closest living blood relatives (most likely her parents) if she did not have a husband or children. So you need to hire a probate lawyer to open up an estate and appoint you as executor and allow you to act on the estates behalf. Additionally, if the death of your daughter was in some way related to the actions of the defendant who caused her personal injuries, then you may have an additional claim for wrongful death. So you have to consult with both a probate lawyer and a wrongful death attorney To explore these issues.... Read More

Yes, you can have them stay with you but proper legal authority is advised since Father will be in jail and Mother is deceased. A POA is meant more for temporary situations and may not be the best, especially if an important medical, educational, or legal decision needs to be made. A guardianship or third party rights order may be more appropriate.   Please call if you would like an initial consult to discuss what may be more appropriate for your situation.  Depending on the complexity, we provide full representation or consultation only with document preparation.   Marie Splees Zawtocki... Read More

I don't know what County you are in. I practice in Maricopa and Pinal Counties.  Both have services that are affordable or minimal cost. In Maricopa there is the FLAP program and the Modest Means program. I offer an initial 1/2 hour consult at no charge, or a full hour at $100.  We can review the papers you received, review a Response if you have started one, and advise you on available services if your case is in either Maricopa or Pinal. Marie Zwtocki Attorney  ... Read More

Hey Cora, parental kidnapping kicks in when the court establishes parental rights, and non-custodial parent or custodial parent heist the child without notifying/informing the courts or the other parent. Therefore, you will not be committing parental kidnapping until the matter goes to court and you hide away, run away with the child. The child is not born yet, so there is not much that can be done. You will have to wait till to see what you want to do. If you are not married, you can deny putting him on the birth certificate and even deny that it's his/her child. It will be up to him to establish paternity and go through the legal system to gain visitation or custody. Whatever you do, just don't do anything that may affect your parental rights and put them in danger. Always consult with an experienced attorney. We can certainly try to help you evaluate your options. Feel free to give us a call or text for a free consultation. Thank You. Toll-Free 1-877-866-8665 Ahsan Syed, Case Manager... Read More

It is important that your QDRO is prepared and processed correctly.  The professionals that prepare these charge an initial fee of approximately $800 to $1300.00.  Their price depends on how complicated the order is.  The cost is typically shared equally by the two spouses. Parties will prepare and process these themselves at minimal cost directly through the financial insitute that holds the account.  But, if an error is made in the preparation or processing, you may lose out on funds you were entitled to. My firm does not prepare these directly.  If you need a referral, please call. Zawtocki Law Offices, PLLC        ... Read More

Judges rule on the information that is presented to them.  Starting with accurate income, health insurance costs, daycare, parenting days, and other information requested on the worksheet will help the Judge do this.   If the information on the worksheet  results in a significant and continuing change, the Court has the authority to modify the support. Often, that change is defined by whether it is a 15% or more change.   Since the tax deductions are only changing slightly, I am wondering if the change is less than 15%.  If the income percentages are that close, I often encourage and will ask the Judge to keep it equal for both the tax exemptions and payment of non covered medical costs (out of pocket medical bills) because it is easy for both parents to remember.  It makes the math easier, too.   A change in parenting time is a separate matter.  If you only want to make a slight change to holidays, remember that you and the other parent can always agree to make changes, just confirm it in writing.  You may also want to use Court Mediation through the Conciliation Court Services office in Maricopa to address these smaller items.     ... Read More

You have several resources available online.  Try this site to calculatte the child support:  https://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw/Child-Support-Calculator-Information If you want to know the rules used for assigning child support, you can read the Arizzona Child Support Guidelines: https://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw/Child-Support-Guidelines-Review-Archive    ... Read More

If the other party agrees, you both could sign an agreement that clarifies what the facts should be.  Depending on what the exact words of the order are or the exact testimony of the other party, there may be a concern by the other party that this stipulation will be used in the future to show he or she is not a truthful person.  However, that could be addressed in the stipulation, if needed.  I'd suggest you have an attorney look at the wording of the court's findings.  In any order involving legal decision making and parenting time, the court has to make findings about whether there was any domestic violence or, even if there was violence, it was not substantial. ... Read More

Because only you adopted the two children, your husband is now a step dad to them. The process should be easier than when you adopted in 2013, because you likely had to wait out the severance issues of the birth parents. And, I expect you will consent to your Husband adopting the children.  But, there will still be requirements similar to what you had to take care of for the adoption paperwork in 2013.... Read More

Your current orders may contain provisions that differ from the relocation statute.  That order will need to be followed. The Arizona statute currently states 100 miles and is typically interpreted to mean the distance from the current location of where you have been living.  If a parent has moved several times since the current order was entered, and each time that parent is moving further away, the Court will take that into consideration if the other parent objects to the children  relocating or having to travel regularly for weekend and holiday parenting time. Relocation cases are difficult when  the parents do not agree.  Many times, the objection to relocating the children is based on logistics of how much time children are spending traveling, and the ability of a parent to rearrange their schedule.  If the move results in changes in school, medical provider, and so forth, the non moving parent may also disagree because they have no first hand knowledge of what the child is moving to.  The Court may want to know that the moving parent has an established job and been at the new location for awhile before moving the child to live in primarily in the new location.  The Court will also look at whether the moving parent can afford the consequences of a long distance parenting plan and exchanges.  Often, the moving parent has to pay for these since they are the one that chose to move. Even when parents do agree, a new order typically needs to be entered with the Court because the current parenting plan does not work when one parent moves a long distance away.        ... Read More

Based on the information provided, you may want to file a Petition for Enforcement. You may also want to file a Petition to Modify the current orders so that the children are with you more.  You should consult with legal counsel as the prior history of the case and the violations that are occurring need to be considered.   ... Read More

All cases are fact sensitive. It appears your wife is a US citizen living on a US Military base in Japan and that the child has not been born yet.  It does not appear that she is a Japanese citizen.     Jurisdiction over the child will likely be in the place where the child is living.  If the child is born and remains on Japanese soil, Japan may technically have jurisdiction to make decisions.  Japan has custody (legal decision making), parenting time, and support laws that are applied in these cases. As of January, 2014, Japan finally joined the Hague Convention which, briefly, is an agreement of many countries intended to stop cross border child custody matters.  Prior to that, I was already seeing some cases where the Japanese court and Japanese attorneys were recognizing the importance of both parents having appropriate parental access.  If mom is in the US Military, is it likely she will be sent back to the US?  Further, the US Military does have resources that may be of assistance when a service member attempts to deny the other parent access.  There may be some benefits to getting your divorce filed in the United States now and getting Mother served. ... Read More

It would not be appropriate to access this account which is solely in his name.  Facebook information can be  helpful in an Arizona divorce matters.  However, there are other, more credible sources of information such as financial records and accounts, school records, police reports, drug and alcohol test results, and many other sources.  Your question causes me to think that you have concerns during this period of separation.  If these concerns include having appropriate parenting time for children, support for children and a spouse, or property rights, the Arizona family court has services and processes including conciliation services or filing for temporary order and  divorce or legal separation orders. ... Read More

I constantly give the same advice in this kind of situations: Get the local child protective agency involved.  In my experience it is never a good idea to throw your self into the unknown.  It's very smart of you  that you are already seeking information through this site.  Go a step further and contact your local agencies. You'll be surprised how much help is out there. Good luck, be wise about your next step it may lead to lifelong consequences.... Read More

I am sorry to hear of your difficulties. This is certainly a situation in which you need an attorney. You need to research to see if there really is a case, and then petition the Court. There are some other more immediate things such as police welfare checks, but it is difficult to set all all of the potential twists and turns into a paragraph. Good luck.... Read More

In Arizona the way that you could possibly accomplish this would be through medical powers of attorney, if your god parents are able to sign these. Without either powers of attorney, or your appointment as their guardian and/or conservator, there is no legal basis for any provider or institution to allow you be involved in their decisions. They should consult with an experienced elder law attorney to discuss their needs in this area.... Read More

Generally speaking, if there are already orders in place regarding parenting time, then a parent must follow the provisions of ARS 25-408 and serve 60-days written notice upon the other party of the intention to move. The other party then has 30 days to ask the court to prevent the relocation and the court will decide whether it is in the child's best interests to relocate. This can be difficult to prove depending on the circumstances. There is more to the statute than what I've briefly described here, so I recommend you consult with an attorney prior to taking any action.... Read More

If there are no court orders, then under the Arizona paternity statutes, you currently have legal custody of your children. If he is incarcerated, you have a couple different options. You could file an action for paternity and ask the court to restrict his rights (e.g. supervised parenting time) based on his incarceration. If he later wants the court to modify the orders, it would be his burden to prove that the modification is in the children's best interests, and the court would decide at that point what his rights are. The other option is to "do nothing." In the future, he might file an action to assert his rights, but at that time, he still has to prove that what he's requesting is in the kids' best interests. Either way, the action would have to be filed in Arizona since that has become the children's home state. I recommend you consult with an attorney to determine your best course of action.... Read More

Without any other context, I read this to mean that in even-numbered years, Mother has the child from Wednesday after school until sometime on Friday, and Father has the child from sometime on Friday until Sunday at 6pm. In odd-numbered years, Father has the child from Wednesday after school until sometime on Friday, and Mother has the child from sometime on Friday until Sunday at 6pm.... Read More

If the parents recognize that they are incapable of taking care of the children, you might be able to get them to consent to naming you as the legal guardian so that you have authority to care for the kids until one or both parents are back on their feet. If this isn't an option, I recommend you consult with an attorney to determine whether you have grounds to file for custody, or whether pursuing a dependency might be appropriate.... Read More