Family Law Blog

Stay up-to-date with family law and divorce news, tips and guides written by the team at Best Law Firm

June 13, 2012 Cindy Best
How is Child Support Paid?

Child support must be paid in money–not in clothing or gifts. It must be paid through the clearinghouse in the state of Arizona if there is a court order for support. In Arizona, most child support payments are made through the “clearinghouse” and, if possible, through wage assignment. If a parent is ordered to make…

June 11, 2012 Cindy Best
Who Pays Child Support?

Using the factors of the parent’s monthly gross income, the amount of spousal maintenance paid or received, the amount of court-ordered child support paid by one parent for support of children not common to the other parent, the cost of one parent supporting children not common to the other parent, the amount of the medical…

June 8, 2012 Cindy Best
What is a Child Support Worksheet and How is Child Support Determined?

The second required document is a child support worksheet. Within this form, there are various boxes to input information such as your income and parenting time with the children. There are other factors that are also taken into consideration in determining this amount. The Child Support Worksheet will calculate who pays child support and how…

June 6, 2012 Cindy Best
What is an Affidavit of Financial Information?

Every case with children must have a document filed called an Affidavit of Financial Information, to be filled out by both parents and notarized. Read all the fine print on this document. It requires you to attach the last three (3) years of taxes and at least six (6) months of pay stubs. (Please remember…

June 4, 2012 Cindy Best
How is Child Support Determined?

Child support is decided upon these basic factors, plus whatever else each parent pays for: 1) monthly salary of each parent, 2) age of children, 3) parenting time, 4) day care costs, 5) medical insurance, 6) extracurricular expenses, and 7) number of other children not common to the marriage.

June 1, 2012 Cindy Best
Will the Court Tell Me When I Can See My Kids?

Only if you and your spouse cannot agree. You really do not want to turn this life-changing decision over to a stranger who will only get to know your family in an hour or so of an evidentiary hearing. Not only do you relinquish all control, but having to testify and perhaps say negative things…

May 30, 2012 Cindy Best
You and Your Spouse Have a Parenting Schedule You Both Agree On. Can You Put It In Writing?

Yes. You can write and sign an agreement, as can be found in the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 69, that will be valid in court. You can attach it to your joint parenting agreement or rewrite it into your final joint parenting agreement. It is valid, even if it is not filed…

May 28, 2012 Cindy Best
My Former Spouse Wants to Go on a Cruise to Mexico. I Will Not Let the Kids Get Passports. Can He Get My Children Passports Without My Approval?

This can get sticky, because there are hundreds of international abductions every year. If you truly believe it is for a cruise, you might consider it. You can ask for the written itinerary and documentation showing that they are really going on a cruise. Sometimes the abduction of children comes as no surprise to the…

May 25, 2012 Cindy Best
My Wife Has the Kids Every Other Weekend, But She Works and Leaves Them With Her Mother. What Can I Do?

It sounds like you might need to consider revisiting and amending your parenting agreement to better fit everyone’s schedule. At one time, you could have an agreement called a “first right of refusal.” This was a common provision, which reads that if one parent who has the kids is gone for more than four hours,…

Family Law Success Stories

Best Law Firm has helped thousands of families during the past 18 years. We help families through negotiation, settlements, mediations and court litigation when necessary. The goal is to resolve issues with the least amount of money and stress and only use court litigation as a last resort. Every family we meet is important to us so we would like to share just a few of our success stories with you.

We represented an unmarried father and were able to reunite him with his 4 year old son after the mother secretly moved him to Florida. 

We represented a mother and were able to require the father to undergo therapy before he could have any parenting time with his three daughters who he had been physically and emotionally abusing.  We had a certified domestic violence expert testify in the case. 

We represented an unmarried mother and were able to reunite her with her 2 year old daughter after the father took the child in secret without permission or a court order. 

We represented a husband who had a large estate and the wife wanted assets greater than their prenuptial agreement allowed. 

We represented a wife in a long term marriage to obtain the spousal maintenance that she was due. 

We represented the husband whose wife violated their divorce decree's spousal maintenance agreement by living with her boyfriend. 

We represented an unmarried mother and were able to obtain a large child support order from the father who was a professional athlete and it was upheld on appeal. (Murphy) 

We represented an unmarried father and were able to fight abuse allegations filed against him and get a court order for 50-50 parenting time for his 2 children.

We represented an unmarried father and were able to defend him against false allegations and obtain a court order where he was named primary custodial parent of his 3 year old son.

We represented a mother who lived in Italy whose teenager was unlawfully kept in Arizona after summer visitation by the Father.  It was ordered for the child to return to his mom in Italy. 

We represented a father whose 2 children were taken to Kansas after their divorce was filed in Arizona and the court ordered them to be returned.

We represented a father who lived in Texas and fought for primary custody of his daughter who lived in Arizona. The daughter was able to move to Texas because of the mother's abuse and neglect. 

We represented a Canadian mother whose husband attempted to get a divorce in Arizona where he could keep the kids.  Mother had no long term visa and would have lost her children. Tali Collins was a "friend of the court" and was heard at a Canadian hearing on the same matter that had been filed in BC. 

We were the mediators for a mother who wanted to keep the community house (and equity) and the father who wanted to keep his community retirement. We were able to craft an agreement where she received more spousal maintenance up front which the husband agreed to pay to keep the community retirement he had earned. 

We represented two ER doctors and mediated their parenting agreement which was drafted to help each doctor have the maximum time with their son.  

We represented a father who was a doctor and obtained sole custody of his two daughters after the mother had a worsening mental illness.

We represented a father whose former wife attempted to enforce an out of state child support arrears calculation that was incorrect. We also won the case on appeal.  (Glover) 

We represented a mother and successfully protected against potential kidnapping by the father to a non Hague country, the UAE. The parenting time order put in safety measures and supervisors to protect the daughters. 

We represented a father from Japan to obtain a parenting time order for his young son.

We represented a father to severe the rights of the mother with their two daughters after the mother was imprisoned for criminal abuse against them. 

We represented a father and were able to negotiate a parenting plan with joint legal decision making and a 50-50 parenting plan for his son. 

We represented a divorced couple against the grandmother who wanted visitation time with their daughter against the parents' wishes. 

We represented a married couple and negotiated visitation with a former mother in law, grandmother to their son/step son. 

We represented grandparents and negotiated parenting time with a previously estranged father of their grandson. 

 

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7025 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 303
Scottsdale, Arizona 85253