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How to Represent Yourself in Maricopa County Part 1: Initial Filings
How to represent yourself in Maricopa Family Court Part One: Your Initial Filings
This is the first in a multi-part segment on “How to Represent Yourself in Maricopa County Family Court.” My goal is to give you as much information as possible for you to get the best possible outcome given your objectives.
Determining Your Objectives/Setting Expectations
The first step in family court is that you should determine your objectives. Let’s say you are going through a divorce. I understand your objective is to get divorced. What I am asking is for you to think about what is important to you within your divorce. There are five main issues that will need to be decided:
1. Custody (Legal Decision Making and Parenting Time)
2. Property and Debt Division
3. Child Support
4. Spousal Maintenance
5. Other issues (marital waste, attorneys fees, etc)
Picture your life after divorce with regards to each and every one of the issues above. Be as detailed as possible. Plan your post divorce budget considering where you will live and work. If you have a transition plan to live with family or friends for a brief period of time, think about what your life will look like when you are done with that transition. Deciding you ideal outcome and what is most important to you prior to filing any paperwork is an excellent place to start when you are representing yourself. Consider coming up with your ideal outcome on each issue and then determining what you could live with for each and every issue. Work with a counselor, mentor of friend to do some serious planning.
After you have determined your objectives, it is important to understand that the “process” of getting a divorce or going through any family law matter is not a fast one. Setting your expectations to a realistic place will help you get through the process with your mental health in tact and gives you a better chance of meeting your objectives. Plan for a contested case to take a year or more. This is likely to be one of the most stressful events you will endure. Get a support structure in place in advance to help you through the process.
The Initial Court Filings (Petition/Response/Temporary Orders)
The first step in the process of the family court case is the initial filings. This includes the Petition (and all accompanying documents), Affidavit of Service, Response (and all accompanying documents), and potentially filing for temporary orders. You or your spouse must file a Petition for Dissolution with the court and serve the other party. Service must be according to the rules of procedure. Most often this is either through a process server or your spouse accepting service by signing an acceptance of service.
Whoever files the documents first is the “Petitioner” the non-filing spouse is the “Respondent”. You will retain these titles throughout the duration of your case, even in modifications that may come years from now. In reality, it doesn’t really matter if you are the Petitioner or Respondent. There are strategic advantages to both.
What to Include In Your Filing
When deciding how specific you want to be in your petition, ask yourself if your spouse is likely to agree with each and every aspect of what you would like. In the event that the two of you agree on everything, consider filing a very specific petition outlining all of the details of how you would like custody, property division, child support, spousal maintenance and any miscellaneous issues addressed. If you agree on everything, filing a comprehensive petition (with separate parenting plan and child support worksheet) allows the two of you the option to proceed via default. This allows the other party to bypass filing a response (and paying the filing fee for the response).
In the event you and your spouse are not likely to agree on every aspect of the divorce, consider filing a more vague petition with requests such as “child support pursuant to the guidelines” or requesting “an equitable distribution of property and debt”. This allows you to take full advantage of the discovery process without committing yourself to a position that may change.
A Brief Introduction to Discovery
In discovery, you will have access to information that you may not have previously had. For instance, if you spouse owns a business you may want to have it valuated before you commit to your spouse taking the business in exchange for you keeping the house. You will likely need to discover how much of your retirement accounts are community property (earned during marriage) and how much might be separate (premarital) property. Leaving your petition rather vague gives you the opportunity to gather more information as you refine your position. By becoming educated on the law, you can better assess your position of what is fair or what you can live with during your divorce. It can also help you to negotiate what is really important to you. For instance, let’s say you learn that you spouse spent $50,000 in secret gambling over the last three years. You may have a marital waste claim for $25,000. Instead, you may use that potential claim to settle other issues in the case that are very important to you.
The Response
Likewise, if you are the Respondent filing a response, consider also filing a “counter-petition” to address any issues that your spouse may have failed to mention. Also, you do not need to follow the traditional “admit or deny” format for each paragraph of the Petition. You can instead “plead affirmatively” and tell the court what you want. This allows your Response to be understood without having the Petition read side by side. All of the above guidance and suggestions apply to the response except for the paragraph regarding default. A respondent cannot ask for a default judgment on an initial divorce filing.
Motion For Temporary Orders
Finally, both Petitioner and Respondent may file a “Motion for Temporary Orders” along with the Petition or the Response. The request for temporary orders allows you to request that the court implement an order for temporary spousal maintenance, child support, use of the home, payment of the bills, attorneys fees, etc. In my experience about half of all cases have a temporary order in place. This is because divorce may take a year or more. In the mean time, arrangements have to be made. If the parties are unable to agree on the details of the arrangements, the court will need to put orders in place that allow for parenting time, payment of bills, and where someone will live. Other issues that may need to be addressed include where the kids will go to school, whether or not a child will be given a certain medication, travel arrangements between visits. Any issue that cannot be decided by the parties may be decided by the court as long as it falls within one of the five topics outlined above. Final Thoughts The next installment in the series will cover rule 49 mandatory disclosures and other discovery tools available to you.
Contributing Attorney Writer: Billie Tarascio litigates family law and domestic violence cases at Modern Law.
Comments:
Determining Your Objectives/Setting Expectations
The first step in family court is that you should determine your objectives. Let’s say you are going through a divorce. I understand your objective is to get divorced. What I am asking is for you to think about what is important to you within your divorce. There are five main issues that will need to be decided:
1. Custody (Legal Decision Making and Parenting Time)
2. Property and Debt Division
3. Child Support
4. Spousal Maintenance
5. Other issues (marital waste, attorneys fees, etc)
Picture your life after divorce with regards to each and every one of the issues above. Be as detailed as possible. Plan your post divorce budget considering where you will live and work. If you have a transition plan to live with family or friends for a brief period of time, think about what your life will look like when you are done with that transition. Deciding you ideal outcome and what is most important to you prior to filing any paperwork is an excellent place to start when you are representing yourself. Consider coming up with your ideal outcome on each issue and then determining what you could live with for each and every issue. Work with a counselor, mentor of friend to do some serious planning.
After you have determined your objectives, it is important to understand that the “process” of getting a divorce or going through any family law matter is not a fast one. Setting your expectations to a realistic place will help you get through the process with your mental health in tact and gives you a better chance of meeting your objectives. Plan for a contested case to take a year or more. This is likely to be one of the most stressful events you will endure. Get a support structure in place in advance to help you through the process.
The Initial Court Filings (Petition/Response/Temporary Orders)
The first step in the process of the family court case is the initial filings. This includes the Petition (and all accompanying documents), Affidavit of Service, Response (and all accompanying documents), and potentially filing for temporary orders. You or your spouse must file a Petition for Dissolution with the court and serve the other party. Service must be according to the rules of procedure. Most often this is either through a process server or your spouse accepting service by signing an acceptance of service.
Whoever files the documents first is the “Petitioner” the non-filing spouse is the “Respondent”. You will retain these titles throughout the duration of your case, even in modifications that may come years from now. In reality, it doesn’t really matter if you are the Petitioner or Respondent. There are strategic advantages to both.
What to Include In Your Filing
When deciding how specific you want to be in your petition, ask yourself if your spouse is likely to agree with each and every aspect of what you would like. In the event that the two of you agree on everything, consider filing a very specific petition outlining all of the details of how you would like custody, property division, child support, spousal maintenance and any miscellaneous issues addressed. If you agree on everything, filing a comprehensive petition (with separate parenting plan and child support worksheet) allows the two of you the option to proceed via default. This allows the other party to bypass filing a response (and paying the filing fee for the response).
In the event you and your spouse are not likely to agree on every aspect of the divorce, consider filing a more vague petition with requests such as “child support pursuant to the guidelines” or requesting “an equitable distribution of property and debt”. This allows you to take full advantage of the discovery process without committing yourself to a position that may change.
A Brief Introduction to Discovery
In discovery, you will have access to information that you may not have previously had. For instance, if you spouse owns a business you may want to have it valuated before you commit to your spouse taking the business in exchange for you keeping the house. You will likely need to discover how much of your retirement accounts are community property (earned during marriage) and how much might be separate (premarital) property. Leaving your petition rather vague gives you the opportunity to gather more information as you refine your position. By becoming educated on the law, you can better assess your position of what is fair or what you can live with during your divorce. It can also help you to negotiate what is really important to you. For instance, let’s say you learn that you spouse spent $50,000 in secret gambling over the last three years. You may have a marital waste claim for $25,000. Instead, you may use that potential claim to settle other issues in the case that are very important to you.
The Response
Likewise, if you are the Respondent filing a response, consider also filing a “counter-petition” to address any issues that your spouse may have failed to mention. Also, you do not need to follow the traditional “admit or deny” format for each paragraph of the Petition. You can instead “plead affirmatively” and tell the court what you want. This allows your Response to be understood without having the Petition read side by side. All of the above guidance and suggestions apply to the response except for the paragraph regarding default. A respondent cannot ask for a default judgment on an initial divorce filing.
Motion For Temporary Orders
Finally, both Petitioner and Respondent may file a “Motion for Temporary Orders” along with the Petition or the Response. The request for temporary orders allows you to request that the court implement an order for temporary spousal maintenance, child support, use of the home, payment of the bills, attorneys fees, etc. In my experience about half of all cases have a temporary order in place. This is because divorce may take a year or more. In the mean time, arrangements have to be made. If the parties are unable to agree on the details of the arrangements, the court will need to put orders in place that allow for parenting time, payment of bills, and where someone will live. Other issues that may need to be addressed include where the kids will go to school, whether or not a child will be given a certain medication, travel arrangements between visits. Any issue that cannot be decided by the parties may be decided by the court as long as it falls within one of the five topics outlined above. Final Thoughts The next installment in the series will cover rule 49 mandatory disclosures and other discovery tools available to you.
Contributing Attorney Writer: Billie Tarascio litigates family law and domestic violence cases at Modern Law.
Comments:
QUESTIONS
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My sister has poa and is not looking out for moms best interest she stole her house and she is jealous of moms and my relationship mom has Alzheimer's and my sister had her sign the house over to her then put her in the nursing home I recently applied for guardianship I just want to be included in the depictions for mom well she sent me a hand written letter saying I could not dee my mom. Can she do that and can the nursing home stop me she tried getting a court order and the judge denied it. This request is not from a judge she wrote it. So I can I go see my mom?
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My 4 year old son's mother wants to move out of the state with him. What can I do to stop the move?
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I am 17 years old, currently 7 months away from being 18. My parents do not want me visiting my boyfriend who lives about 15 miles away from me on the weekends. I am determined to walk that distance every weekend and back, but never stay the night. My mother wants to forcibly keep me from going. I would never miss school if I did this. Can she call the police and make them drag me back to the house?
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I have sole custody of my 12 yr old daughter and my current husband has been laid off and we have no current income. Husband's company contacted him about a possible job opening in a different state. I understand that I must send a certified notification to ex-spouse but am I required also to notify the courts and/or complete a visitation modication?
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I am the single mother of a severly multiply disabled child. Before moving to Phoenix last year I lost conservatorship of my son's estate. It is very difficult to get things paid for through the court-appointed fiduiary and I don't plan on moving back to detroit. What steps do I need to take to regain the conservatorship?
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I found out my ex boyfriend showed my 12 year old porn because he was afraid he was gay, can I press any charges against him for this
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I cheated on my husband and now i'm pregnant. My husband & I are fixing things and decided we do not want a DNA test for father paternity. The person who I had an affair with was also with someone else- he preferred abortion to solve "the problem" I refused- he stood with his 10 long year girlfriend and did not tell her anything. 1 Month later & now he is interested because his girlfriend found out and will leave him only if they child is his. He did not want anything to do with this child i refuse to DNA unless ordered through court. Want to see if its possible for him to give up his rights.
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I've been married for 10 yrs,all of which I have been a homemaker.My spouse and I have 2 kids one is disabled.Since separating he has tried to control me with money,only giving me $150 biweekly which I am to support the kids on.I have filed for divorce and am awaiting our hearing for temporary orders.Before I left I paid the bills as I usually did.But he then took over our joint account where he let checks bounce.One I was turned into county attorney for.They are now on me to pay it.I have 0 income barely feeding kids it was his bill for home.Can I legally withdraw $ from jnt acct to pay this?
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How do we change the guardianship of my mentally disabled bother from my mother who is now ill herself, to another family member? Also is it possible to have more than one guardian? This would help to prevent this situation in the future if it was possible.
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I need legal representation in an Adult Guardianship and Conservatorship case for my 20 year old son who has Autism. I am very concerned about his health and welfare.
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