I was in court in Graham County (Safford) in a post-decree child custody modification case this past week. The judge in the case declined to make any changes in the custody and parenting time arrangements at the hearing. Instead, the judge appointed a “best interests attorney” (BIA) and set a review hearing in three months. So what does all this mean?A BIA is an attorney appointed by the court to investigate and then advocate to the court a child custody/parenting time arrangement that would be in the child’s best interests. The BIA may also suggest other services that the attorney believes would benefit the child, such as counseling. Best interests attorneys are authorized under Rule 10 of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure. Although the attorney may interview a child of sufficient age as part of her investigation, she does NOT simply advocate what the child wants. A BIA does not represent the child. Rather, the BIA serves at the pleasure of the assigned judge and assists the judge in determining what outcome (custody, parenting time, etc.) would be best for the child.
In my Graham County case, the judge is specifically directing the BIA to interview the child, review the court file and relevant documents, and then to make a report to the court which will include a recommended custody and parenting time arrangement. I anticipate that at the time of the review hearing, we will have the BIA’s report, and if we all agree with the BIA’s recommendations, those recommendations will simply be adopted as an order of the court. If we disagree, the court will schedule an evidentiary hearing to consider ALL evidence, of which the BIA’s input is one important piece, and then render a ruling following the hearing.
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