Phoenix Arizona Family Law Blog

Divorced fathers in Arizona may have a better chance of getting equal custody of their children than they did in the past. Many divorce lawyers have noticed that courts are regularly awarding parents joint custody, and fathers are being treated as equal parents. In the past, it was more common for mothers to get custody while fathers were awarded visitation.

Though joint physical custody is only recently becoming the norm, joint legal custody has been common in family courts for much longer. Joint legal custody means that both parents have an equal right to make decisions for their child. This means that even if a dad sees his child every other weekend, he still has an equal right to choose the child's doctor or decide whether the child can go on a field trip.

When Arizonans decide to get divorced, they might have to deal with property division, spousal support, child custody and child support. Once they have worked out agreements about each of these issues, they might also want to think about life insurance in case the higher-earning spouse dies following the divorce.

A higher-earning spouse who will be making alimony payments to the lower-earning spouse after a divorce might learn how long he or she will likely have to continue making the payments from his or her attorney. A lawyer may make an educated guess about the duration that the payments will be made. The spouse who will receive the payments might want to negotiate with the payor spouse for him or her to purchase term life insurance for the total amount of alimony over its duration. If the payor spouse dies, the recipient will then still receive the money that he or she would have received during that time through alimony.

People in Arizona who decide to divorce may struggle more with reaching a child custody agreement than with other important parts of the end of a marriage, including negotiating property division and spousal support. Many parents fear that they will lose their close connection with their children after a divorce and are troubled by their thoughts of co-parenting with their former spouse. However, parents know that handling the divorce sensitively is important to protect their kids' emotional well-being. There are a number of successful parenting schedules that people can use to share custody after the divorce is finalized.

Many people prefer joint custody as close to 50/50 as possible, depending on each parent's employment schedule and lifestyle. Some families may be better suited to one parent having primary custody and the other having an extensive visitation schedule. Each family can find the option that works best for their lives; the most important element is typically retaining the parent-child bond, but this can take place in different ways. Families with 50/50 custody may choose a week-switching schedule where the child spends one week with one parent and the next with the other parent.

Once parents have decided to end their marriage, their most pressing concern is often the well-being of their children. Many parents rightly worry that their decision to divorce will negatively impact the lives of their children.

The good news is that divorce doesn't have to be a horrible experience for children if their parents handle their feelings appropriately. Children are most often worried about how a divorce will change their daily experiences. By addressing their fears directly and always considering the best interests of the children, parents in Arizona can be assured that their children will emerge from a divorce with a better outcome.