What Does Child Custody Law Include in Arizona?

As the best child custody lawyers in Arizona we often get asked, "what does child custody law include in Arizona?" Hi, I'm Kevin Jensen, a divorce and family law attorney in Mesa, Arizona. There's a lot of strange things that can sometimes happen when parties are going through a divorce. Once in a while, we have someone come in our office stressed out, completely unnerved because one of the other parents has done something that has affected his or her relationship with his child. For example, we recently had a case where a mother going through divorce situation, took the child from the State of Arizona and left, really without consent of the other parent, or from an order from the court. As you can imagine, the father was stressed out. He didn't know where his child was. He didn't know how to get ahold of the child. And of course, he didn't agree for the child to even leave in the first place. The mother was being completely vindictive and refuse to bring the child back to Arizona so that he can be with his father.

The father hired us to help him find the child and getting back to Arizona. Now, this was not a very easy process. To start with, we had to file a petition with the court requesting that the court order that the mom brings the minor child back to the State of Arizona. The problem, the first problem that arose in that process is that you have to serve the other party with the petition. Well, how in the world do you serve somebody who's left the State and you don't know where they're at? That was the first problem that we had to solve. After making as many attempts as we could possibly make to serve her through normal means by sending a process server, we had to actually go and get permission from the court to serve by publication. Now, this is a process where you can actually publish the petition that you're filing in a newspaper, and that gives notice to the other party that somebody has filed something in court and that they have to respond. That's a long process, and it's not very easy. It took us about a month to do that. Only after we served her through publication, were we able to go in front of the judge.

Now, the judge had some limitations, at least that's what she thought. Through some hard work and legal research, we were able to convince the judge that she could order that the mother returned the child to Arizona through the process of issuing something called a warrant. This was a warrant that required mother to bring the child back to Arizona. Well, that was a victory for us, but we still had a problem. How do we get somebody not in the state of Arizona to execute this warrant? What we wanted to do was have a law enforcement officer wherever mom was, take this warrant to mom, physically take the child and bring him back to Arizona. After a lot of work, and research, and frankly, a little bit of help from an anonymous tipster, we were able to find the mother had taken the minor child to the State of Florida. The next problem that we encountered is how do we take this warrant and get somebody in Florida to go over to mom's house and say, “Let's go. We're taking the child back to Arizona,”?

What we found out is that we had to domesticate that order or that warrant in Florida. Now, ‘domesticate’ is kind of a fancy legal word for getting somebody in Florida to recognize that warrant is valid. We were able to find a legal procedure in Florida that allowed them to recognize the warrant in Arizona and then execute that warrant, like any other words. This story has a happy ending. We were able to accomplish that domestication process and engage the sheriff's department down in Florida to go over to mother's house and physically take the child from the mother and bring him back to Arizona.

Now, divorce situations, as I said in the beginning, create all kinds of stressful situations. Sometimes they're not very common situations, like this case. It's not every case where somebody flees the State with a child. But when something like that happens, you're going to need somebody who's willing to get in your corner and fight hard for you, someone who's willing to take some of that stress on, someone who's going to give you the reassurance that everything's going to be okay, there's a legal process that allows justice to be done. We do that kind of work every day. We are dedicated to helping parents facing difficult situations with their children during divorces. We offer a free 30-minute consultation where we hope to put your mind at ease and to give you some advice as to what can be done in any difficult divorce situation. So, please, if you're going through something difficult in a divorce, or any other legal matter, give us a call at 480-632-7373. Thank you.

For more videos answering common child custody questions click here.

Our team of family law attorneys and divorce attorneys look forward to helping you when you need it most. With over two decades of aggressive divorce, child custody, child support, and divorce mediation representation we will not allow you to be taken advantage of. We believe in making a difference in the lives of our clients and their children.


Mesa, AZ – Office

Located in Mesa Arizona, on Val Vista and Southern Avenue. Our Family Law Attorneys and Divorce Lawyers in Mesa AZ have been helping our clients achieve the legal results they are searching for. Our Mesa Law Firm offers Divorce Mediation, Uncontested Divorce, Contested Divorce, Legal Separation, Female Divorce Lawyers, Annulment, Child Support Issues, Child Custody, Military Divorce, Parenting Plans, Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements, Grandparents Rights, Paternity, Order of Protection, Name Change and all Family Law legal issues.

Genesis Family Law and Divorce Lawyers in Mesa AZ
2915 E Baseline Rd Suite 115
Gilbert, AZ 85234
(480) 999-2321
https://familylawattorneymesaaz.net/mesa

Chandler, AZ – Office

Located On Dobson Road, just North of W. Chandler Blvd, near the 101 Freeway. We have a team of the Best Divorce Lawyers and Family Law Attorneys in Chandler Arizona. Our Chandler Law Firm offers Divorce Mediation, Uncontested Divorce, Contested Divorce, Legal Separation, Female Divorce Lawyers, Annulment, Child Support Issues, Child Custody, Military Divorce, Parenting Plans, Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements, Grandparents Rights, Paternity, Order of Protection, Name Change and all Family Law legal issues.

Genesis Family Law and Divorce Lawyers in Chandler AZ
333 N. Dobson Rd #5
Chandler, AZ 85224
(480) 632-2083
https://familylawattorneymesaaz.net/chandler

Gilbert, AZ – Office

Located in South East Gilbert, Near Higley High School on Pecos Road, West of Power Road in the Power Ranch Neighborhood. Our Gilbert Law Firm offers Divorce Mediation, Uncontested Divorce, Contested Divorce, Legal Separation, Female Divorce Lawyers, Annulment, Child Support Issues, Child Custody, Military Divorce, Parenting Plans, Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements, Grandparents Rights, Paternity, Order of Protection, Name Change and all Family Law legal issues.

Genesis Family Law and Divorce Lawyers in Gilbert AZ
4365 E. Pecos Rd Suite 138
Gilbert, AZ 85295
(480) 900-2302
https://familylawattorneymesaaz.net/gilbert

Florence, AZ – Office

Located in the Community of Anthem in Florence Arizona, off of Hunt Hwy. Our Florence Law Firm is staffed with family law attorneys that offer Divorce Mediation, Uncontested Divorce, Contested Divorce, Legal Separation, Female Divorce Lawyers, Annulment, Child Support Issues, Child Custody, Military Divorce, Parenting Plans, Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements, Grandparents Rights, Paternity, Order of Protection, Name Change and all Family Law legal issues.

Genesis Family Law and Divorce Lawyers in Florence AZ
3281 N. Hunt Hwy Suite 111
Florence, AZ 85132
(480) 632-1120
https://familylawattorneymesaaz.net/florence

Glendale, AZ – Office

Located in Glendale. Our Glendale Law Firm offers Divorce Mediation, Uncontested Divorce, Contested Divorce, Legal Separation, Female Divorce Lawyers, Annulment, Child Support Issues, Child Custody, Military Divorce, Parenting Plans, Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements, Grandparents Rights, Paternity, Order of Protection, Name Change and all Family Law legal issues.

Genesis Family Law and Divorce Lawyers in Glendale AZ
7075 West Bell Road Suite 5
Glendale, AZ 85308
(602) 834-8585
https://familylawattorneymesaaz.net/glendale/

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