You may have spent years thinking that door was closed. The divorce is final. The decree is signed. Nobody wanted to hear about it then, or you were told it was not relevant, or you never raised it at all because you were trying to get your divorce finalized. Then your ex files to try and modify parenting time and suddenly you are back in a courtroom.

It Applies Even Though Your Case Is Old

The Alec and Lydia Act was enacted on June 22, 2026 and we believe it applies to every hearing in front of family court after June 22, 2026 no matter when it was filed. (see our article about when the Alec and Lydia Act applies) It is not limited to new divorces or new filings. When domestic violence is alleged, it triggers all the provisions in the Alec and Lydia Act and there are certain mandates about what a family law court must do.

There are real changes. It is ground breaking legislation to protect children. It is now the public policy of Arizona to put children first over parental access.

What The Family Court Must Do Once Domestic Violence is Found

Once you prove domestic violence by a preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not, the Alec and Lydia Act creates a mandatory rebuttable presumption that an award of legal decision-making or parenting time to the abuser is contrary to your child’s best interests.

If the presumption is not rebutted, the court may not grant sole or joint legal decision-making, unsupervised parenting time, or supervised parenting time to the abuser.

And the court shall adopt precautions that prioritize the personal safety and physical, mental and emotional well-being of your child and you. These are the safeguards and they come from a specific list in the Alec and Lydia Act.

Exchanges of your child in a protected location or safe exchange location specified by the court
Limits on parenting time, including a prohibition on overnight parenting time
Supervised parenting time by a professional agency or designated persons. You may not be appointed as the supervisor
An order that he pay the cost of supervised parenting time
Suspension of access to your child, in any form, until he petitions the court to modify
Completion of a program of intervention for perpetrators of domestic violence, and any other counseling the court orders
If the court also finds he abused any substance, including alcohol, an order that he abstain from possessing or consuming that substance and submit to random testing
A bond for your child’s safe return
An order that your address and your child’s address remain confidential
Any other condition the court determines is necessary to protect your child, you, and any other family or household member

Here is the evidence that you are entitled to bring to court:

Other acts of domestic violence that tend to prove the existence of coercive control, no matter how long ago they happened.
Those acts even if they have already been decided by another court.
Those acts even if you could have raised them back then but did not.
Those acts against any person, not only you. A new partner, a former partner, a family member, anyone.
Your testimony. You do not need exhibits. You do not need a witness. The law does not require corroboration.
Findings of domestic violence made by another court, including an OOP
The Abuser’s medical, treatment, counseling records if he or she is attempting to rebut the presumption.
The Abuser’s HIPAA release so you can gather pertinent records
Coercive Control is Domestic Violence under the Alec and Lydia Act

Domestic Violence Includes Coercive Control

When most people hear domestic violence they picture being physically harmed. That can be part of it. Domestic violence now expressly includes coercive control, which is a pattern of violent, threatening, coercive or emotionally abusive conduct by one parent against the other, without consent or justification. The Act lists fifteen forms it can take:

Sexual or other physical assault
Threatening to kill or injure a person, including oneself, or a household pet
Displaying, accessing, assembling or cleaning a firearm or other dangerous weapon in the other parent's presence where the circumstances imply threatened unlawful use
Confinement or other restraining words or actions restricting the other parent's freedom of movement or lawful activity
Isolation from friends and family
Monitoring or regulating financial activity, economic resources or access to services
Stalking or harassment
Demeaning, degrading or humiliating words or actions
Threatening to publish sensitive information, including sexually explicit material, of the other parent or a member of that parent's family
Threatening to make reports to law enforcement
Threatening, initiating or using civil litigation to force the other parent to defend a false or frivolous claim, or to regulate or restrict lawful or constitutionally protected activity
Damaging property owned or lawfully possessed by the other parent or a member of that parent's family
Jeopardizing the immigration status of the other parent or a member of that parent's family by act or conscious omission
Forcing the other parent to commit a crime against that parent's stated wishes
Using surveillance or tracking technology to facilitate or aggravate any of these behaviors

If this is part of your history, it is now very relevant for proving domestic violence.

What This Means For You

Maybe he or she filed to get something or perhaps just to harass you. Maybe he or she is angry that you did not give him or her more time than what is in your parenting plan. The end result is that this filing also put domestic violence and your child’s best interests in front of a judge again, under a new law, with new mandates in the family law court.