My series on the divorce process will resume next week with a post about serving the initial divorce papers after they are filed with the court. For this week, however, I wanted to address a new development at the Arizona Legislature.
Under current Arizona law, married fathers have rights to their children which are equal to mothers’ rights until courts make specific custody and parenting time orders. Fathers of children born out of wedlock, however, have virtually no rights until a court awards the father child custody/parenting time by court order. Under A.R.S. Section 13-1302, the mother is the legal custodian of a child born out of wedlock until the court orders otherwise.
If AZ Senate Bill 1492 becomes law, fathers of out-of-wedlock children will be put on equal ground with the children’s mothers even prior to court orders being entered. This bill passed the Arizona Senate on March 8, 2012, and now goes to vote in the Arizona House. Here is a link to the full text of the bill: http://e-lobbyist.com/gaits/text/557146. I intend to follow up on this bill and will bring you new developments as they become available.
Copyright © 2012 by Scoresby Family Law – J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.