The Arizona Divorce Process, Start to Finish

Most people going through a divorce have never been inside a courthouse. The process feels uncertain and overwhelming. This article walks through what happens, in what order, and roughly when. Every case is different. Some finish in three months; some take two years. But nearly all of them travel the same road, and knowing the map helps.

Considerations before filing

Can you file in Arizona?

Either you or your spouse must have lived in Arizona for at least 90 days before a petition is filed. Military members stationed here for 90 days qualify as well.

If you have children, there is a separate and often stricter requirement: Arizona generally must have been the children's home state for the six months before filing in order for the court to make custody decisions.

Grounds

Arizona is a no-fault state. You do not need to prove wrongdoing, and you do not need your spouse's agreement. It is enough that the marriage is irretrievably broken. If one spouse says it is over, it is over — the other cannot force the marriage to continue.

The narrow exception is a covenant marriage, an option a small number of Arizona couples elect at the time of marriage. Covenant marriages require proof of specific grounds such as adultery, abuse, felony conviction, or a lengthy separation. If you signed a covenant marriage declaration, tell your attorney immediately, because the rules that follow are different.

Divorce or legal separation?

Legal separation runs through nearly the same process and produces nearly the same orders — property divided, support set, parenting plan entered — but does not end the marriage. People choose it for religious reasons, to preserve health insurance eligibility, to reach the ten year married mark for social security benefits, or because they are not yet certain. Note that it requires both spouses to agree; if one wants a divorce, the case proceeds as a divorce.

Stage one: Filing and service

The Petition

The case begins when one spouse files a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. That person is the Petitioner; the other is the Respondent. Being one or the other carries essentially no legal advantage, despite persistent belief to the contrary.

The Petition states what you are asking the court to do — how to divide property and debt, what parenting arrangement you want, whether support should be ordered. It is a request, not a ruling.

The Preliminary Injunction

When the petition is filed, the court issues a Preliminary Injunction automatically. This is one of the most practically important documents in your case, and it binds both spouses — the filing spouse right away, the other spouse once served.

In plain terms, it prohibits either of you from:

Selling, hiding, giving away, or borrowing against property, other than in the ordinary course of business or for the necessities of life
Removing the children from Arizona without written agreement or a court order
Harassing or disturbing the peace of the other party
Cancelling or changing insurance — health, auto, life, home — or removing the other spouse or the children as beneficiaries

Violating it can result in sanctions or contempt. Read it carefully. The insurance provision in particular catches people who assume they are free to make changes.

Service

Your spouse must be formally notified. Usually this is done by a process server, by sheriff, or by your spouse voluntarily signing an Acceptance of Service. If a spouse genuinely cannot be located after diligent effort, the court can permit service by publication or by alternative means.

The 60-day waiting period

Arizona imposes a minimum 60-day waiting period, measured from service or acceptance. No divorce can be finalized before it expires, even if you agreed on everything the first week. In practice it is rarely the thing slowing a case down.

The Response

The Respondent has 20 days to file a Response if served in Arizona, or 30 days if served outside the state.

Missing this deadline is serious. If no response is filed, the Petitioner can apply for a default — and the court can enter a Decree granting substantially what the petition requested, without the other spouse's participation. Defaults can sometimes be set aside, but the standard is demanding and there is no guarantee. If you have been served, calendar the deadline the same day.

Stage two: The early months

Temporary Orders

A case can take a year. You need rules for the meantime. Either party can request temporary orders addressing:

A parenting time schedule while the case is pending
Temporary child support and spousal maintenance
Who lives in the marital residence
Who pays which bills
Sometimes a contribution toward attorney fees

A temporary orders hearing is a short, evidentiary proceeding — often an hour long. Temporary orders are exactly what the name says: they expire when the final decree is entered and do not bind the judge's final decision.

That said, do not treat them as unimportant. A temporary parenting schedule that runs for a year becomes the status quo, and status quo carries real weight at trial.

If safety is an issue

Orders of Protection are separate from the divorce case and can be sought immediately, including on an emergency basis outside court hours. If you are in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.

Disclosure

Arizona requires both parties to exchange financial information without being asked. This is mandatory and ongoing, not optional and not triggered by a request. It includes tax returns, pay records, bank and retirement statements, debt and credit card statements, and property valuations.

You will also complete an Affidavit of Financial Information ("AFI") — a sworn statement of income, expenses, assets, and debts. Prepare it carefully. It follows you through the case, and inconsistencies in it are the first thing a competent opposing attorney will use in cross-examination.

The instinct to minimize income or shade the numbers is understandable and always a mistake. Concealment discovered later damages credibility on every other issue, and courts have broad authority to sanction it.

Discovery

If voluntary disclosure is incomplete or the case is complex, formal discovery tools become available: written questions, document demands, subpoenas to employers and banks, depositions, and — where needed — experts to value a business, appraise real estate, trace separate property, or evaluate earning capacity.

Discovery is where cost accumulates fastest. It is sometimes essential and sometimes an expensive way to confirm what everyone already knows. That judgment call is worth making deliberately with your attorney.

Parent education

If you have minor children, both parents must complete a court-approved Parent Information Program ("PIP") class, generally within 45 days of service. It is short, available online, and inexpensive. Do it early — it is a common cause of last-minute delay, and the court will not finalize without it.

Stage three: Working toward resolution

The Resolution Management Conference ("RMC")

Most cases are set for a conference with the judge a few months in. This is not a trial and no evidence is taken. The judge identifies which issues are actually contested, sets deadlines, and orders next steps. Most often the parties' attorneys agree on the next steps prior to the RMC. The attorneys usually agree at their "meet & confer" to continue the dismissal date by 60-90 days to allow for the parties to complete discovery, work on settlement negotiations, and often attend private mediation.

Both parties file a statement beforehand setting out their positions. Judges read them, and a well-prepared statement is a genuine opportunity to frame the case early.

Settlement conferences and mediation

Nearly every case is directed toward some form of settlement process. For parenting disputes, that often means Conciliation Services, the court's own mediation department. For financial issues, or for the whole case, parties frequently hire a private mediator — commonly a retired judge or experienced family law attorney — and split the cost.

The mediator decides nothing. Their function is to help you reach agreement.

A majority of cases resolve without a trial. This is the stage where that usually happens.

Agreements

If you settle, the agreement is written up and signed, and a signed written agreement is binding and enforceable. Partial agreements count too: resolving property and debt while leaving one parenting question for the judge reduces the issues at trial. That is a substantial saving of both money and stress.

Stage four: Trial

If issues remain, a Trial is set. There are no juries in Arizona family court.

Trials are typically set for a half day, a full day, or occasionally longer, with the time divided between the parties. The clock is strictly enforced. Each side presents exhibits and testimony, witnesses are cross-examined, and the judge decides.

What the judge is deciding:

Property and debt. Arizona is a community property state. Almost everything acquired during the marriage belongs to both of you equally, regardless of whose name is on it or who earned it — including retirement accounts, business interests, and debts. Property owned before the marriage, or received during it by gift or inheritance, is generally sole & separate property. The complications arise when the two are commingled.

Legal decision-making and parenting time. The standard is the best interests of the child, evaluated against a list of statutory factors including each parent's relationship with the child, the child's adjustment to home and school, the mental and physical health of everyone involved, which parent is more likely to support the child's relationship with the other, and any history of domestic violence or substance abuse. Older children's wishes may be considered, though there is no age at which a child simply decides.

Child support. Calculated under the Arizona Child Support Guidelines, which run a formula using both parents' incomes, parenting time, health insurance costs, childcare, and support obligations for other children. There is limited room to deviate.

Spousal maintenance. A two-part inquiry: first whether a spouse qualifies at all, then how much and for how long, under guidelines Arizona adopted in 2023 that produce a far more structured result than the older case-by-case approach. Length of marriage, the standard of living established, and each spouse's earning capacity all matter.

Attorney fees. The court can order one party to contribute to the other's fees based on a disparity in financial resources, the reasonableness of each side's positions, or both. Unreasonable litigation conduct can be expensive.

The Decree

After trial the judge issues a ruling, often in a written decision within roughly 60 days. Once the Decree of Dissolution is signed and entered, you are divorced.

After the decree

Implementation. The Decree does not execute itself. Deeds must be recorded, refinancing completed, accounts retitled, vehicles transferred, and — critically — any retirement account division requires a separate court order (a QDRO or its equivalent), which is a step that is very often forgotten and very costly to forget.

Modification. Child support, legal decision-making, and parenting time can be modified later when circumstances change substantially. Spousal maintenance may be modifiable depending on the Decree's terms. Property division is final and cannot be revisited because you later decide it was a bad deal.

Enforcement. If the other party ignores the Decree, enforcement tools exist, including contempt proceedings.

Appeal. A limited window, generally 30 days from entry of an appealable order. Appeals are not second trials; the appellate court reviews for legal error, not for a different opinion on the facts, and they are expensive and slow.

How long and how much

An uncontested divorce where both spouses agree on everything takes roughly 90 to 120 days, limited mostly by the waiting period and court processing.

A typical contested divorce takes a year, sometimes longer, unless a settlement is reached.

A complex or high-conflict case that requires a business valuation, contested relocation, and allegations requiring expert evaluations usually takes a year or two, sometimes more.

Cost varies enormously and is driven far more by conflict than by asset size. A couple with a modest estate who fight over everything will spend more than a wealthy couple who settle. The largest cost drivers are contested temporary orders, extensive discovery, expert witnesses, and Trial. Every one of those is at least partly within the parties' control.

Practical guidance

Do not violate the Preliminary Injunction. Not the account you consider "yours," not the insurance policy, not a trip out of state with the kids. Ask first.

Assume everything is discoverable. Texts, emails, social media, and messages to friends about the case. Write everything as though a judge will read it, because one might.

Keep the children out of it. Do not discuss the case with them, do not use them as messengers, and do not disparage their other parent in their presence. Courts pay close attention to which parent supports the child's relationship with the other, and children are more perceptive than parents believe.

Organize your documents early. Tax returns, pay stubs, account statements, mortgage documents, credit card statements. Clients who are organized spend meaningfully less on fees than clients who do not.

Separate the emotional case from the legal one. The court cannot make your spouse admit fault or apologize. The Court divides property, sets support, and structures parenting. A therapist addresses the rest, more effectively and at a fraction of the hourly rate.

Think about the day after. In a case with children, you will be co-parenting with this person for years — through graduations, weddings, and grandchildren. Positions taken now that permanently poison that relationship carry a cost that outlasts the case.

This article explains general concepts and is not legal advice for your specific situation. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship, and neither does contacting us. An attorney-client relationship is formed only by a signed retainer agreement.