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
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.