Tucson Family Law Blog

Couples in Arizona and throughout the country have warmed up to the concept of the prenuptial agreement in recent years. These documents can be especially beneficial to those who own a business. With a prenuptial agreement, a couple can determine whether to classify the company as marital property or create a custom label for it.

The terms of the agreement may establish how much the company was worth at the time of the marriage. This amount generally cannot be split in a divorce proceeding. Therefore, a business owner can protect the equity that they built before entering into a union.

There are several things that parents in Arizona can do to protect their children after a divorce. The first thing that they should do is make sure that a child knows that the divorce was not his or her fault. This can be part of an overall strategy to be as honest as possible without divulging inappropriate information. Generally speaking, lying about small things can cause a child to lose trust in a parent.

A child should be allowed to spend time with both parents without feeling guilty about choosing one over the other. It is important to keep in mind that spending time with one person doesn't indicate a lack of love or respect for the other. Children should also be allowed to spend time with their friends even if it means reduced parenting time. Allowing kids to spend time with their peers can be good for their overall development.

There are some cases in which divorced parents in Arizona might need to relocate. This could cause a dispute between parents and changes in the custody schedule, and it might be necessary to go to court.

In some situations, a parental relocation might be in a child's best interests. A relocation could provide improved housing or job opportunities or put the parent and child closer to extended family. Relocation does not always mean disruption to a visitation schedule or that visitation is not possible. However, a court often starts from the assumption that relocating is not what's best for a child, so the burden might be on the parent to convince the court otherwise.

According to the software company Custody X Change, a typical child support payment in Arizona is among the lowest in the country, with the usual payments ranging from about $400 to $528. However, just across the state line in New Mexico, the typical payment is $735 to $880, and in Nevada, it is $881 to $1,187. With every state calculating child support differently, a parent who is relocating might want to consult an attorney to find out how child support payments will be affected.

The company imagined a hypothetical situation in which the mother's income was $45,000 and the father's was $55,000. The hypothetical also assumed that the couple had two children and that the mother was the custodial parent, with 65% of child care time compared to 35% for the father. While the income estimate may have been high based on information from the census and Pew Research, the study did highlight the wide variation in child custody payments.