Family lawyers in the Phoenix area charge between $250 to $550 per hour on average. If you hire an experienced divorce lawyer in AZ, the cost can be as much as $400 to $750 per hour. The average cost of divorce in AZ if you choose to file yourself is $577.
Fees: The fees for filing for divorce in Arizona varies from one county to another. Lawyer Costs: If you decide to employ a divorce lawyer, then your divorce could cost between $4,000 and $28,000 and the lawyer fees can cost around $10,300 on average.
According to the Arizona law, as a petitioner, you have a maximum of 120 days to serve the papers to your spouse and if this is not done within 120 days, then your case will be dismissed by the court clerk automatically and you will have to start the entire process afresh.
To start the process of divorce in Arizona without involving a divorce attorney, you need to fill out the necessary forms, which are available online through numerous sources.
In the state of Arizona, the spouse initiating the divorce proceedings is referred to as the “petitioner” and the spouse being served the divorce papers is referred to as the “respondent”. The forms needed and the fees you have to pay for filing for divorce may vary depending on the county.
What is the cost of a divorce in Arizona? In Maricopa County, the base fee for filing a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (with or without children) is $349. Pima County's fee is $83 less at $266. Other Arizona counties have different filing fees.
You can deliver the divorce papers yourself or mail them to your spouse. Either way, you will need to make sure that your spouse signs the Acceptance of Service form in front of a notary public and gives the signed form to you.
The Arizona divorce laws permit the Court to order one spouse to pay some or all of the other spouse's attorney fees and costs. Although there are many different statutes that provide the court with this authority, the most cited statute is A.R.S. 24-324.
The average (mean) cost of a divorce is $12,900. The median cost of a divorce is $7,500. An uncontested divorce or one with no major contested issues costs, on average, $4,100. Disputes over child support, child custody, and alimony raise the average cost of a divorce significantly.
between 90 and 120 daysIt depends. Although you can get a divorce decree in as little as 60 days (in limited circumstances as per the waiting period in Arizona Revised Statute 25-329), the average time to finalize even an uncontested divorce in Arizona is between 90 and 120 days. In many cases, divorces can take considerably longer.
To initiate a divorce in Arizona, a spouse files a “Petition for Dissolution of Marriage” with the clerk of the Superior Court and pays the requisite filing fee. The other spouse must be served with a copy of the petition and summons.
The divorcing couple can go to the court and file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. The court, depending on the county, will charge between $300 and $400 in filing fees. This makes the average court cost of an uncontested divorce in Arizona about $620.
Arizona divorce forms are all available online and free to use. The Arizona Judicial Branch provides the required forms and instructions for a divorce with minor children or without minor children. These forms may be accepted by courts statewide, although some courts may have their own preferred forms.
One spouse may agree to pay for the legal fees and court fees and offset the total cost against assets such as joint savings. Who pays what will likely depend on the circumstances of each couple and how well they get on following the separation.
An uncontested divorce is one in which you and your spouse work together to agree on the terms of your divorce. You will both consult with the same attorney, who will be unbiased and impartial. There is no formal trial, and only the plaintiff appears in court.
There are two types of divorces, contested and uncontested divorce. The uncontested divorce is the best and most cost effective for all parties concerned. It can be finalised within 4 weeks. If a divorce is contested it may take between 2 - 3 years, but most contested divorces do settle long before they go on trial.
An uncontested divorce is a divorce proceeding where the court formally grants the requested divorce without the need to go through significant portions of the adversarial litigation process.
In most cases, the lawyer will represent the “plaintiff” or “petitioner,” who is the spouse that asked for the divorce.
Updated: Aug 27th, 2019. Settling a divorce before it goes to trial is the best case scenario, because it enables you to avoid a financially and emotionally-draining courtroom experience.
On the other hand, a childless couple with very few assets and liabilities will probably pay less.
Even in states where unbundled legal services aren’t allowed yet, spouses can still work with lawyers to have a divorce agreement written up for a fixed fee or at an hourly rate .
The survey says that an Arizona divorce lawyer on average charges $250 per hour. This, combined with the rates of paralegals and other law firm services, will total $10,300 in a typical Arizona divorce.
Attorneys’ fees make up most divorce expenses, but you have to be ready for other costs that will accumulate throughout the case:
The more complicated the divorce, the longer it will take and the more costly it will become. Lawyers’ hourly rates stack up, more court fees may be required, and more consultants may be needed. These particular family issues may significantly increase your divorce expenses, according to the Lawyers.com survey:
The average cost of divorce in Arizona is about $20,000 per side, with costs ranging from $15,000 to $100,000 per side when hiring a lawyer to litigate your divorce, hiring expert witnesses, and other factors according to CanterburyLawGroup.
Regardless of the choice you make, it’s important you make the best choice for you when hiring a divorce attorney. Remember: The decisions you make now can affect your future. Ultimately, choosing the best lawyer will depend on which lawyer feels best for you and your situation.
Court filing fees are required to complete the divorce or the legal separation process. The court fee to be paid at the beginning of the process is the Petitioner’s fee. In Maricopa County, this fee is currently $349. The Respondent’s fee, which is due when the decree of dissolution of marriage is filed, it is currently $274. These fees fluctuate over time, and by county, so it is strongly recommended that you ask your mediator or lawyer for current pricing.
As a result, most divorce attorneys will estimate that for a relatively straightforward case, with moderate conflict, modest assets and with children, the average cost of divorce is $15,000 – $20,000 per spouse. When conflict escalates — which is often true in litigation — the case can last a year or more and can result in costs ...
A primary factor impacting the cost of divorce is the process you choose to complete your divorce. This choice will either promote a cooperative, lower-conflict experience, or cause an adversarial, conflict-driven, divorce war. Even cordial spouses experience intense and difficult emotions, such as anger and fear, as they go through a divorce.
The average hourly attorney fee is between $300 – $400 per hour. Once the retainer has been exhausted, the client will be required to replenish the retainer back to its original amount and the attorney will again bill against the retainer for time spent on the case until the money runs out.
Divorce professionals should be free from subconscious or unconscious motivations to promote conflict between divorcing spouses. Fee structures should be “motivation-neutral”, from the mediator’s perspective, and must support a process where efficient and amicable resolution is encouraged.
You will make agreements related to all of the important issues of divorce, such as: division of debts and assets, division of property, and spousal maintenance. If children are involved, we help you create a thorough Parenting Plan which addresses, child support, legal-decision making, and child custody.
Mediation: 80% – 90% less expensive than litigation. In divorce mediation, your mediator will either charge by the hour like an attorney, or charge a flat fee for the entire process. Either approach is overwhelmingly likely to result in spouses paying less for their divorce as compared to the cost of litigation in court.
To file a divorce petition in Arizona, the petitioner must also file the following: Summons: Informs to the respondent that a divorce has been filed and he/she must take action within a particular time period.
Your spouse or you must have resided in the county where you’re filing for a divorce for a minimum of 90 days before filing a Petition for Divorce. Any children belonging to your spouse and you should have resided in ...
A contested divorce is where both spouses do not agree on the various issues of the divorce such as division of property, child custody, etc. If your spouse and you disagree about even a single issue, then the divorce is a contested one.
ARIZONA GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE. The “no-fault” grounds for a divorce in Arizona are that the marriage is broken irretrievably and there is no prospect of a reconciliation. If the marriage is a covenant marriage, then the grounds for the dissolution of the marriage are: Abandonment. Adultery.
A contested divorce usually ends up in court and needs a trial where the judge will make decisions on the issues that your spouse and you are unable to agree on. Usually, for a contested divorce, both your spouse and you will need to hire your own divorce lawyers and you may require to go to court several times.
Any children belonging to your spouse and you should have resided in Arizona for a minimum period of 6 months before the court has the judicial authority to pass judgment regarding child custody and parenting time. From the time that you file your petition for divorce, there is a waiting period of a minimum of 60 days before ...
The are 2 types of legal custody in Arizona – sole legal custody and joint legal custody. In the case of a joint custody, both parents have equal say in making major decisions affecting the child including educational and medical decisions. In the case of sole custody, the parent with the custody can make these decisions pertaining to the child without consultation with the other parent.
For this option, you will need to contact the Sheriff’s Office in the county where your spouse lives and arrange for the service. This typically requires you to pay a fee to the Sheriff’s Office, but if you cannot afford the cost , you may request a fee waiver or deferral from the court.
In a scenario where all other service methods have failed, you may be able to file a Motion for Alternative Service, which requests the court for some other feasible means of service. In Arizona, you can only do this if you have made many attempts to serve the papers but have been unsuccessful.
Government. If you opt for an uncontested divorce, you can normally get divorce papers from the state government website or your county court. Online. Several companies offer online forms for uncontested divorces.
The steps are: File a petition for divorce. Serve your spouse with the papers.
Serve Your Spouse With the Papers. Once your divorce papers have been filed with the court , you need to have them delivered to your spouse and have the delivery confirmed in writing. If the divorce is uncontested, your spouse only needs to sign an acknowledgment of receipt. If they are going to contest the divorce, ...
Once your spouse has been served with the divorce petition, they normally have 30 days to respond by either agreeing to the petition or signaling their intent to contest it. If they decide to contest the petition, the case will have to be heard by the county court where it was filed.
If your divorce is uncontested or friendly, you can: Avoid hiring a lawyer to draw up your settlement agreement. Reach an out-of-court settlement that is fair to both parties. Speed up the process. If there are points in the divorce settlement on which you and your spouse disagree, this needn’t be a deal-breaker.
The final step in your divorce involves you and your spouse declaring your assets, income, expenses, and liabilities. Once the court has these declarations and your divorce settlement agreement—detailing how they should be divided—it will go ahead and finalize your divorce.
The best part of using DoNotPay is that you can both save and earn money. As soon as you sign up, make sure you check out how you can find missing money, get free raffle tickets, get compensation for victims of crime, report a late or missing delivery and get a refund for it, and request gift card cash back.
Yes, in most cases unless it is a divorce by publication of some sort and you are no longer a resident of the state or this country you will most likely have to go to court.
Assuming that you and your spouse have reached an agreement concerning all issues, in the normal course of time, the attorney would probably file all necessary documents within about seven days. In emergency situations, it could be completed more quickly.
How long it takes to complete the papers varies depending on the length of your marriage, the assets, the issues, children or not children etc. In California, if the other side defaults or if you have an agreement, it is possible you will never see the inside of a courtroom. It can all be done on paper.