Maricopa County Family Law Blog

Nearly half of the women killed by homicide in Arizona and around the country die at the hands of an individual with whom they had an intimate relationship. Yet, the dangers violent men pose to adolescent girls have largely been ignored by researchers. A team of epidemiologists from Harvard University and the University of Washington recently sought to address this imbalance by reviewing the cases of 150 teens killed by their intimate partners between 2003 and 2016.

Out of the cases that were studied, 90% involved an adolescent girl who died at the hands of a boyfriend, and the perpetrator was over the age of 18 almost 80 percent of the time. In some of these cases, an older man killed a teenage girlfriend because he was worried about being prosecuted for statutory rape or wished to terminate a pregnancy. The researchers gathered their data from coroner's records, police reports and medical examiner's files.

When Maricopa County parents decide to divorce, they may be concerned about how their changed relationship will affect their children. In addition, going through the divorce itself is only the first step towards a new, important relationship with the children at the center: co-parenting. While people may have difficulty adjusting to a new situation after a divorce, parents can come together to put the children first even after their romantic relationship has come to an end.

In the first place, children benefit from stability. When they go back and forth between both of their parents' houses for parenting time, it can be important for them to find similar rules and expectations in both households. Of course, sometimes this is a challenge, because differences in approaches to parenting can be a major contributor to a divorce. Even when parents disagree about discipline, they can come together on common expectations for the children.

As many Arizona residents may already know, divorce can take a heavy toll on a family. Not only does it emotionally stress both spouses, but it can also be very strenuous for the children who have to watch their family being torn apart. This effect might be amplified if one parent wins sole custody of the children, meaning that the other parent won't get to see their kids as often as they used to.

Researchers have aimed to figure out how the stress that comes with divorce can be mitigated, especially for the children. According to a new study, stress is largely determined by the relationship that children have with their parents. Surprisingly, researchers found that the level of acrimony between the former partners has a much lower effect.

Several factors go into an Arizona court’s decision on spousal maintenance. This is one of the most important parts of the proceedings from the long-term financial effects it will have on both parties. One of these factors is how old the spouse seeking maintenance is.

Since Arizona is a community property state, many would believe that older divorcees would have less of a chance of receiving alimony since any property or income they acquired during the marriage would be evenly split. However, there are many issues that older spouses have later in their lives that could have a drastic impact on the court’s decision.