Retroactive child support is support ordered for a past period before the current order was established. In Arizona retroactive support is available in certain circumstances and is subject to statutory limits and equitable considerations.

The most common retroactive support situation arises in paternity cases where paternity is established after the child has been born and support was not previously ordered.

Retroactive support is not available to simply recapture the period before a modification petition was filed when an existing order was already in place.