Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona

Thank you for your inquiry. I am glad to hear that you and your wife have reached agreements on all of the issues pertaining to your legal separation. Keep in mind that the information I'm providing is very general, and it is an abbreviated version of the process. I do encourage you to contact our office for a free 30 minute conversation to discuss this process in greater detail.

1. Unless your wife's employer has a department that assists with QDRO drafting and implementation, you will probably need to hire a separate attorney to prepare the QDRO to accomplish the division of retirement assets. There are only a few attorneys in town who perform this service (their prices are all comparable, and the cost is traditionally shared between the parties), and you are welcome to email me directly for their names and phone numbers.

2. When the Petition is filed (along with a filing fee of $321), you can include the signed Parenting Plan as well as a Settlement Agreement signed/notarized by both parties reflecting the specifics of your agreement. The Respondent party would "accept service" of the Petition, which starts the clock running on the divorce. If the parties go to the court together to file the Petition, the acceptance of service can be filed at the same time.

3. There is a statutory waiting period of 60 days from the time of service before the final Decree of Legal Separation can be entered. If both parties sign a Consent Decree, then the Respondent's filing fee ($256) would be paid at the time the Decree is submitted. The only way to avoid the Respondent's filing fee (aside from asking the court to waive or defer the fee(s) in the event of financial hardship) is for the Legal Separation to proceed by Default. I generally do not encourage this path because Default essentially means that the Respondent is not participating in the legal proceedings. I think it's probably worth the filing fee to make sure that both parties are involved in all aspects of completing the case.

I hope this information is helpful.