Alec and Lydia: The Tragedy That Changed Arizona Law

In May of 2024, a mother named Hope Hooton lost both of her children in the most devastating way a parent can lose a child. Her son Alec and her daughter Lydia were shot and killed by their father while he was exercising unsupervised parenting time with them after their divorce. He then took his own life.

What made the tragedy even harder to read about was the warning signs, their father had been hospitalized for psychiatric issues. He had reported suicidal thoughts. He had reported homicidal thoughts. He had been granted unsupervised parenting time with his young children.

What Hope Hooton did next

It is a remarkable story of this mom who took her personal pain and turned it into purpose. She knew the law needed a change and she fought for that change. She testified. She showed up. She kept showing up. She told legislators what happened to her children and how the Arizona family court system had failed her children. She advocated for reform to protect children above all else.

She did this while carrying a grief that most of us cannot begin to imagine. She did it because she believed that what happened to Alec and Lydia should never happen to another family.

She was right. She is to be honored and appreciated for this fight.

What Arizona did

On June 22, 2026, Governor Katie Hobbs signed House Bill 2995 into law. It is called the Alec and Lydia Act. It is effective immediately.

The Alec and Lydia Act is the most significant overhaul of Arizona family court domestic violence law in recent memory. It changes what judges must find, what they must write down, what they must presume, and what they can no longer ignore when domestic violence is present in a case involving children.

It does not bring Alec and Lydia back. Nothing does that. But it changes what happens in Arizona courtrooms from this day forward when a parent comes to court as a victim of domestic violence and needs protection for their child.

Why this matters to us

At Best Law Firm we have practiced family law exclusively for nearly twenty years. In those years we have sat across from parents, most often mothers, but sometimes fathers who came to us as victims of domestic violence and fear for their children. We have presented domestic evidence to courts time and time again to help protect the victim and the children. We have experienced that courts struggle to connect domestic violence to child safety. The victim gets a divorce but the children are then with the abuser for parenting time.

We have always believed that domestic violence and child safety are the same issue. A child who lives in a home where one parent controls, threatens, isolates, or harms the other parent is not a safe child. A child who is handed to that parent for unsupervised parenting time is not a safe child. That belief is not new to us. We have held it and fought for it for as long as we have practiced.

What is new is that Arizona law now says the same thing. Out loud. In a statute. Mandatory findings from judges. Judges must now make written findings when domestic violence is alleged. They must apply a mandatory presumption against awarding any parenting time or legal decision making to a parent who has committed domestic violence. They must treat the safety of the child and the victim as the highest priority and above the general presumption that both parents (including the abuser) should have frequent and continuing contact with the child. For nineteen years those were our arguments. Now they are the law.

What this means for families going through a divorce in 2026 Arizona

If you are in the middle of a divorce or a parenting dispute and domestic violence has been part of your story, the law changed on June 22, 2026. What the court must do, what the court must find, and what the court must write down are all different now than they were a week ago.

If you have been afraid to come forward because you did not think the court would listen, or because you were told before that what happened to you did not qualify as domestic violence, or because a prior court proceeding left you feeling unheard, know that the law has changed. Coercive control is now domestic violence in Arizona. The court can no longer require you to prove that the abuse was severe enough or frequent enough to justify protection. The burden has shifted to the abuser.

We understand what it takes to walk into a lawyer's office and tell your story. We have heard those stories for nineteen years. We do not take that trust lightly. A $100 consultation with Tali is where this conversation starts. She will listen. She will tell you honestly what the law means for your situation. Tali, along with other attorneys in our office are trauma informed. And Tali will help you understand how to protect yourself and your children.

The mother, Hope Hooton, could not have known

When Hope Hooton walked into the Arizona State Capitol she was one mother carrying an unimaginable loss. She could not have known how many families she would reach. She could not have known how many children would be safer because she refused to let Alec and Lydia's deaths be only a private tragedy.

The Alec and Lydia Act is her work. It is named for her children. And every family in Arizona that benefits from its protections going forward is part of the legacy she built from the worst days of her life. We are grateful she fought. We will fight alongside the law she helped create.