How to File for an Arizona Divorce and Prepare for Court

Are you a resident of Arizona and want to be separated from your husband or wife? Yes, you can file for divorce in the state, but you need to be aware of the Arizona divorce regulations. The divorce laws in the various states of the country are not the same. There are surely quite a few similarities, but many differences as well in various areas. It thus makes a lot of sense to find out in advance what the regulations in Arizona are.

Residency and Filing Requirements in Arizona

This is where you start after having retained the services of a professional legal expert:

To file for dissolution of your marriage in Arizona, residency requirements must be met because otherwise the court will never accept your case. If the court finds out that there is no jurisdiction to attend the case, it will obviously not be heard and be dismissed.

Here are the residency requirements in Arizona:

It is essential that either you or your spouse at the time of filing for divorce must be domiciled in the state, or must be stationed in Arizona as a member of the armed services; also, the domicile or military presence must be maintained for a period of 90 days prior to filing the petition for dissolution of marriage.

Having found out whether you qualify or not, the next step for filing the divorce petition is to decide the grounds for divorce.

AZ Divorce – The Grounds On Which You Can File

In the petition for seeking a divorce, you will need to declare the appropriate grounds upon which you want the dissolution of marriage. The marriage can be dissolved on the following grounds:

•    Adultery committed by respondent spouse
•    Felony committed by the spouse and because of this, there is a sentence of imprisonment or death in a county, federal, state or municipal facility for correction
•    There has been an abandonment of marriage for a minimum of 1 year after or before the marriage dissolution petition was filed and the person is refusing to return.
•    The one seeking marriage dissolution has been sexually or physically abused by the spouse or the abuse was carried out on a child, relative who lives with them or there has been a case of domestic violence.
•    Both the partners have not been living together on a continuous basis for a minimum of 2 years before the marriage dissolution petition was filed.
•    Both the partners have not been living together continuously and there has been no reconciliation for a minimum of 1 year from the legal separation decree date.
•    The spouse is a habitual abuser of alcohol or drugs.
•    You and your spouse both agree that ending the marriage is best. This is possible under the Arizona Statutes - Title 25 - Chapters: 312, 901, 903.

Basically, the grounds can be classified into two types:

•    'no-fault’ divorce
•    'at-fault’ divorce

In the ‘no-fault’ divorce, there is no major problem between you and your spouse. It is just that the two of you feel that there is no future in your marriage because of incompatibility. Of course, if you are filing for divorce on these grounds, then there would be no charges against each other in the court.

On the other hand, if you are filing for divorce on any of the above mentioned ‘at-fault’ grounds, then you are charging your spouse for breaking the trust and negatively affecting the marital relationship. Of course you will need to substantiate any charge that you make.

Once the charges have been brought to the attention of the court, according to Arizona divorce laws, your spouse will get the opportunity to refute any of them that have been raised by you. Your spouse is also allowed the opportunity to raise any counter charges against you that you will have the opportunity to refute. This is why ‘at-fault’ divorce cases run for a longer duration and they can become quite a bitter battle between warring spouses.

Divorce in Arizona - The Paperwork

There is quite a lot of paperwork involved that starts with the Petition for Dissolution of the marriage and ends with the Decree of Dissolution. You might need to file as many 10 to 20 documents when you are completing this process of filing.

A few other documents you will need to file in the process include:

•    Acceptance and Waiver of Service
•    Marital Settlement Agreement
•    Credit Notification Form
•    Preliminary Injunction
•    Request for Hearing and Notice of Hearing
•    Affidavit Regarding Minor Children