questions & answers

Question: My ex husband is in jail in pa for attempted homicide. As we were married when he went to jail we never had custody established. Our divorce went through recently and was completely done by him i was just sent the final decree in the mail. what should i do first in order to get custody of our son established in my name?

Answer:

We cannot offer legal advice on this manner, however we can provide some sources that will assist in a custody case. If a divorce case was handled outside of Arizona, then the case must be modified within the county of the state that the divorce was filed in. If the divorce case was filed within Arizona, then any adjustements to the case (such as establishing custody) must be filed within the county that the divorce was processed in.

In Arizona, all divorce cases are handled by the Superior Courts. This website provides a list of all Superior Courts in Arizona.  One must file a request for modification with the Clerk of the Superior Court, which is accompanied by a filing fee. The following link provides self-service forms regarding a divorce case. Please refer to our page on child custody for information regarding how a child custody case is started, decided, and modified (if needed).  For further clarification on Arizona law regarding child custody, please refer to the Arizona Revised Statutes Title 25, Chapters 4 and 8. Consult a lawyer for further inquiries regarding divorce. The following link provide information on where to find lawyers in Arizona.