Walk It Through: The Split
Ninety days' domicile and sixty days after service, the child's best interests, and community property split equitably.
A pharmacist, married for years with one child, decides the marriage is over and asks what it takes to file.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One marriage and one house. Covenant marriage, child support, and spousal maintenance are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Irretrievably brokenThe finding for a decree of dissolution, made when both spouses say so under oath, or one does and the other does not deny it, with one spouse domiciled in Arizona for ninety days before filing.
- Legal decision-makingArizona's name for custody, decided with parenting time in the child's best interests, considering every relevant factor.
- Spousal maintenanceSupport a court may order for a spouse who lacks enough property for reasonable needs, lacks earning ability to be self-sufficient, or meets another of the conditions the section lists.
- Community propertyProperty either spouse acquires during the marriage, except by gift, devise or descent, or after service of a petition that results in a decree. The court divides it equitably, though not necessarily in kind.
- Wilful or negligent misconductMisconduct connected with the employment that, as the reason for a discharge, disqualifies for the rest of that unemployment, until earning wages of five times the weekly benefit amount.