This post is the last in my series titled “Arizona Divorce Procedure Step-by-Step.”\u00a0 This post will address how a decree of dissolution of marriage, informally referred to as a “divorce decree”,\u00a0is entered\u00a0after a divorce trial.<\/p>\n
Following a divorce trial, the judge typically needs time to review all of the evidence presented at the trial before the judge renders a decision.\u00a0 Judges call this taking the case “under advisement.”\u00a0 It is very rare that a judge renders a decision from the bench on the day of trial.\u00a0 Judges may keep a case “under advisement” for up to sixty (60) days.\u00a0 When the judge is ready to rule, the judge issues a written decision or ruling, also called a minute entry.<\/em><\/p>\n If the\u00a0minute entry\u00a0is not signed by the judge, it is NOT a divorce decree.\u00a0 When a judge does not sign her minute entry, the judge directs one of the attorneys, usually the petitioner’s counsel, to prepare a formal draft\u00a0divorce decree document to submit to the judge for signature.\u00a0 The lawyer who has been instructed to do so then drafts a proposed divorce decree that is consistent with the judge’s written ruling.\u00a0 Ideally, both lawyers and parties sign off on the draft decree, including any minor changes or additions to which\u00a0they all agree,\u00a0before it is\u00a0submitted to the judge for signature.\u00a0\u00a0 Until the draft decree is signed by the judge, the parties are not divorced.\u00a0\u00a0 An unsigned minute entry or draft decree is not a court order.\u00a0 Only when it is signed by the judge is the document\u00a0officially a divorce decree<\/em>, a formal court order\/judgment.<\/p>\n Sometimes the lawyer who has been directed to prepare the proposed divorce decree\u00a0 does not obtain the other side’s signatures on the\u00a0proposed decree\u00a0before submitting it to the judge for entry.\u00a0 When this happens, the opposing party has five business days to file an objection to the form of the decree.\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Rule 81(C)(1), ARFLP.\u00a0 The objection may not be used to object to the substance of the judge’s ruling.\u00a0 Rather, the objection is used\u00a0to bring to the court’s attention any provision in the\u00a0proposed decree which is inconsistent<\/em> with the judge’s written decision or which was not addressed in the decision.\u00a0 After an objection, the party who submitted the proposed decree has five business days to file a response to the objection.\u00a0 ARFLP, Rule 81(C)(2).\u00a0 The judge resolves the objection and then signs the decree after any changes the judge orders are made.<\/p>\n Over the past ten years or so, it has become commonplace for judges to sign their minute entry decisions as\u00a0 formal court orders or judgments.\u00a0 When a judge who presided over a divorce trial signs his minute entry ruling, that signed minute entry itself constitutes the decree of dissolution of marriage.\u00a0 There is no need for one lawyer to submit a separate proposed divorce decree \u00a0for signature by the judge.<\/p>\n Once there is a final judgment–a divorce decree signed by the judge–either party may seek an appeal or file various post-trial motions.\u00a0 Those post-decree actions, however, are beyond the scope of this post and this series.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2012 by Scoresby Family Law \u2013 J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is the last in my series titled “Arizona Divorce Procedure Step-by-Step.”\u00a0 This post […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[42,44,59,98],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divorce-process","tag-dissolution-of-marriage","tag-divorce-decree","tag-minute-entry","tag-trials"],"yoast_head":"\n