Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona

What is legal?

My Husband has a previous child with another woman. He is not on establised as the father, but has been told from the beginging that he is the dad. And were almost 100% positive the child is his. We hired a paralegal, since we can't afford an attorney. We served her with Paternity, child support and visitation papers. She filed a restraining order against him 2 days later, which we have asked for a hearing about. She didn't respond within the time allowed,so we filed Default paperwork. The judge ordered for the paternity test. We have arranged dates for the test to take place but when we tried to serve her,her dad said she no longer lived at that address. We believe that he lied and that she does still live at that residence. My question is: How do we go about (leagally) informing her of this appointment if we don't know where she lives? I was told that we could place a public notice in the paper, but is that legal? Also, if we do that and she doesn't show up what do we do after that? We've had to pay for everything so far and I don't want to waste anymore money. Child Support inforcement wouldn't help us because of the restraining order. They say it is not in the best interest of the child. Please help!


Asked on 4/08/05, 1:05 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rich Peters R. J. Peters & Assoc., P.C.

Re: What is legal?

One of the easiest methods of getting her served is to request a hearing on the Restraining Order. She would HAVE to show up in order to keep the restraining Order, and she could be served there. AND, if she does not show up, then the Order gets dismissed, and the AG would then have no reason not to assist.

You also could ask the Court to force the AG to accept service of these dates for her.

I can explain the issues and procedures better by phone or in person. As you can imagine, there is too much to cover via e'mail. We offer free 1/2 hour consultations, in which we can discuss the matter in more detail.

Please call me directly to discuss the specifics of your case, or contact my assistant Audrey to schedule a free 1/2 hour consultation. I look forward to talking with you.

/s/ Rich J. Peters, Attorney

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R. J. PETERS & ASSOC., P.C.

1422 N. 2nd Street, Suite 100

Phoenix, Arizona 85004

602.254.7251

602.254-1229 (facsimile)

see our web page at www.familylawaz.com

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Answered on 4/08/05, 10:56 am


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