Arizona Divorce Before a divorce case can be brought to court certain
requirements must be fulfilled. Arizona law states that the proper
residency requirements need to be filled for the correct jurisdiction.
If a case is brought to the incorrect court, then the case will be
automatically dismissed.
Residency requirements in the state of Arizona specify that at least
one individual must reside in Arizona during the action's commencement.
This can mean a military stationing for at least ninety days according
to Arizona Statues Chapters four hundred one, three hundred twelve, and
three hundred twenty-nine.
Divorcing Grounds A divorce case will need to be based on specific grounds for
filing, or why the marriage needs to be terminated. These grounds must
be lawful under Arizona Statutes and be recognized by the court. Only
one individual is required to file for marriage termination and he or
she will state the grounds for the divorce. Arizona has two sections
for divorce filing: fault filing and no-fault filing. No-fault filing
means that the marriage cannot be mended.
Arizona also has a marriage that is recognized as a higher kind of
marriage and is called a covenant marriage. The grounds for the divorce
from a covenant marriage include a committed act of adultery; a
committed act of a felony that resulted in state, federal, municipal,
or county imprisonment or death; physical marriage abandonment for at
least one year with a refusal of return; sexual or physical abuse from
the other individual on the basis of domestic violence of either a
relative, child, or spouse; permanent and continuous separation for a
minimum of two years before divorce filing; permanent and continuous
separation for a minimum of one year after divorce proceedings were
commenced; habitual drug abuse or alcohol abuse; or an agreement
between the husband and wife for the marriage to be dissolved,
according to Arizona Statutes Title twenty-five chapters three hundred
twelve, nine hundred one, and nine hundred three.
Required Documents Divorce proceedings include many different forms of paperwork
and documents that will need to be finalized through Arizona law.
Depending on the case at hand, a single divorce case can have anywhere
between ten documents to twenty documents.
Some of these include Acceptance and Waiver of Service, Marital
Settlement Agreement, Credit Notification Form, Preliminary Injunction,
Request for Hearing and Notice of Hearing, and Affidavit Regarding
Minor Children. The court clerk's office will be able to assist in the
management of these documents and will be able to designate which are
necessary in each divorce case.
Distributing Property Arizona law states that all the property obtained during the
course of the marriage be called Community Property, which will be
divided through the court only if the individuals cannot find an
agreement themselves. The property will be divided by which individual
has sole rights to the property and what is consider to be community
property.
The community property may be divided equally between the individuals
or may be distributed according to the grounds for divorce. For
instance a divorce on the grounds of adultery may not divide the
community property equally.