Divorce is hard. Divorce with children can feel even harder.
If you are getting divorced in Maricopa County, Arizona, you may have questions about where to start, what forms you need, what happens to your children, and whether you need a lawyer.
The good news is that there are many resources available to help you through the process.
This guide explains the basic divorce process in Maricopa County when you have minor children, including court forms, parenting plans, mediation, legal help, and other resources.
Important: This article is for general information only. It is not legal advice. Every family and every court case is different.
Step 1: Learn What the Court Will Need You to Decide
When children are involved, divorce is about more than ending a marriage.
You and the other parent will need to make decisions about your children, including:
- Where the children will live
- When they will spend time with each parent
- How major decisions about the children will be made
- Child support
- How parents will communicate and share information
- Other important parenting issues
Arizona calls custody legal decision-making. The schedule for when children are with each parent is called parenting time.
These decisions are usually written into a parenting plan.
Maricopa County provides specific forms and instructions for parents who are filing for divorce with minor children.
Step 2: Decide How You Will Handle the Divorce
Not every divorce has to end with a trial.
If you and your spouse agree on everything, you may be able to use a consent decree. This means you agree on the issues that must be resolved before the divorce is finalized, including property, debt, parenting time, legal decision-making, and child support when children are involved.
If you do not agree, there are other options.
Mediation
Mediation gives parents a chance to work with a neutral professional to try to reach an agreement.
In Maricopa County, mediation can help parents work through disagreements about legal decision-making and parenting time and create a parenting plan.
The goal is to help parents make decisions about their children without leaving every decision to a judge.
Mediation does not mean that you have to agree. It also does not replace legal advice from your own attorney.
Going to Court
If you cannot reach an agreement, the court may need to decide the issues that remain unresolved.
The Maricopa County Superior Court provides instructions for cases that go through the court process, including responses, default cases, trials, and final decrees.
Step 3: Complete the Required Parent Education
When a divorce involves minor children in Maricopa County, parents are required to attend the Parent Information Program.
The purpose of this program is to help parents understand how divorce and other family-court matters can affect children.
It is important to understand that this is not simply a class about filling out court forms. It focuses on helping parents understand what children may experience during a family transition.
Step 4: File Your Court Papers
Maricopa County provides divorce packets for parents who have minor children.
The court’s instructions walk you through the paperwork needed to start the case, serve the other parent, respond to a case, and eventually finish the divorce.
The Maricopa County Law Library Resource Center also provides step-by-step information for people who are representing themselves.
You do not have to figure everything out on your own.
Step 5: Get Legal Help if You Need It
You do not have to be wealthy to get help with a family-law case.
Some parents hire a private attorney. Others represent themselves and use legal-help resources along the way.
Family Lawyers Assistance Project
The Family Lawyers Assistance Project (FLAP) helps people who are representing themselves in family-law cases in Maricopa County.
Eligible people can make appointments with volunteer family-law attorneys for help understanding their case and paperwork. FLAP does not provide full representation in court.
Community Legal Services
Community Legal Services helps eligible low-income Arizona residents with certain family-law matters. Its family-law services include issues such as divorce, legal decision-making, parenting time, and enforcement or modification of court orders.
AZCourtHelp
Arizona’s AZCourtHelp website provides court forms, information about court processes, legal-aid resources, and other tools for people who need help navigating the court system.
Step 6: Remember That the Court Case Is Not the Whole Story
Getting a divorce is a legal process.
Learning how to co-parent after divorce is a life process.
A court can create a parenting schedule. It can decide legal decision-making. It can order child support.
But parents still have to live with those decisions every day.
They still have to exchange their children.
They still have to communicate about school, activities, health, holidays, and changes in the schedule.
And their children still have to move between two homes and adjust to a new family structure.
That is why parent education can be so valuable.
Parents can learn practical skills for communicating, reducing conflict, handling transitions, and keeping their children out of adult disagreements.
Step 7: Focus on What Comes Next
The goal of a family-court case is not simply to finish the paperwork.
It is to create a workable path forward.
For parents, that may mean learning how to communicate differently. It may mean creating new routines. It may mean finding better ways to handle disagreements.
For children, it means having parents who can continue to provide stability, support, and reassurance even when the family structure has changed.
If you are going through a divorce in Maricopa County, take advantage of the resources available to you. The court provides forms, self-help resources, mediation, parent education, and other services. Legal-aid organizations and volunteer attorneys may also be able to help.
You do not have to know everything on day one. Start with the next step.
