Domestic violence is one of the most consequential issues in any Arizona family law case involving children. Arizona just passed one of the most significant overhauls of its family court domestic violence law in recent memory.

The Alec and Lydia Act, House Bill 2995, was signed by Governor Katie Hobbs on June 22, 2026 and is effective immediately. It is named after Alec and Lydia Mater, two children who were shot and killed by their father while he was exercising unsupervised parenting time. Their mother Hope Hooton fought for this law. It fundamentally changes what courts must do when domestic violence is alleged or found in a family law case.

Under the Alec and Lydia Act, when a court finds that a parent has committed domestic violence, there is a mandatory presumption that awarding legal decision making or parenting time to that parent is contrary to the child’s best interests. Both legal decision making and parenting time are now inside the presumption. The abusive parent starts from a position of no rights to the child until and unless they overcome that presumption with evidence meeting the applicable legal standard.

To get unsupervised parenting time or any legal decision making authority, the abusive parent must overcome the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. To get even supervised parenting time, the abusive parent must overcome the presumption by a preponderance of the evidence. If they cannot meet the standard, the court cannot award any access at all.

The new law also requires courts to make specific written findings any time domestic violence is alleged, including in temporary orders. Judges can no longer hear the evidence and move on without engaging with it in writing. The findings must describe the evidence, explain whether the presumption applies and why, and explain what protective measures serve the child’s best interests.

Coercive control is now domestic violence under Arizona law for family court purposes. Coercive control is a pattern of threatening, coercive, or emotionally abusive conduct including financial control, isolation, stalking, surveillance, demeaning conduct, threats involving immigration status, and using family court proceedings themselves as a weapon to exhaust or punish the other parent. Many survivors who were previously told their experience did not qualify as domestic violence may now have a different answer under the new definition.

The court can no longer treat the child’s absence from the scene of abuse, the child’s unawareness of the abuse, or the child’s preference to maintain contact with the abusive parent as reasons to minimize a domestic violence finding or justify access. These factors are now expressly irrelevant.

The victim may not be appointed as the supervisor for the abusive parent’s parenting time. The court cannot order a victim to participate in joint treatment, counseling, or forensic assessment with the abusive parent. And if an abusive parent failed to overcome the mandatory presumption, that presumption continues to apply in any subsequent modification proceeding.

We have practiced family law in Arizona for nearly twenty years and we have advocated for victims and children in domestic violence cases for that entire time. The Alec and Lydia Act codifies into statute what we have always believed and always argued. If you are a victim of domestic violence, you are not alone. You do not have to live like this. A consultation with Tali is where this conversation starts.

Domestic violence evidence must be specific and documented. Police reports, Orders of Protection, medical records, emergency room records, witness statements, text messages, photographs, shelter records, and records of repeated court filings all matter. A credible, documented domestic violence history changes the trajectory of a parenting case. Under the new law it now also triggers mandatory presumptions and mandatory written findings that courts are required to follow.