Arizona

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 35 out of 100

Arizona leaves little of the money to the judge: court guidelines set the alimony amount and a duration range tied to marriage length, fault is excluded, and community property is presumed to be split about equally. The judge has wide discretion over legal fees, and each party can replace the assigned judge once without giving a reason. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Arizona ranks 1 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	5 / 20	The court assigns each spouse’s separate property to that spouse and divides community and jointly held property equitably, and the Arizona Supreme Court holds that this property should be divided substantially equally unless there is a sound reason to divide it otherwise. A.R.S. § 25-318(A); Toth v. Toth, 190 Ariz. 218, 946 P.2d 900 (1997)
Alimony	0 / 20	The court must order the amount produced by the Supreme Court’s Spousal Maintenance Guidelines unless it finds in writing that the result is inappropriate or unjust, and it must set the duration inside a range tied to the length of the marriage, leaving that range only for the Rule of 65, permanent disability, or extraordinary circumstances shown by clear and convincing evidence. A.R.S. § 25-319(B); Ariz. Sup. Ct. Admin. Order No. 2025-101 (Spousal Maintenance Guidelines § IV, effective Sept. 1, 2025), replacing Admin. Order No. 2023-119
Fault	0 / 20	The statutes require the court to divide property and award maintenance without regard to marital misconduct. A.R.S. § 25-318(A); A.R.S. § 25-319(C); Toth v. Toth, 190 Ariz. 218 (1997)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may order one party to pay a reasonable amount of the other’s fees after considering the financial resources of both parties and the reasonableness of each side’s positions. A.R.S. § 25-324(A)
Second opinion	10 / 20	Each party in a family law case may change the assigned judge once as a matter of right by filing a notice, and dissolution cases are tried to a judge without a jury. Ariz. R. Fam. Law P. 6 (as amended Jan. 28, 2025); Sobrino v. Fisk (Ariz. App. Nov. 26, 2024)

Getting in

No waiting period. A couple applies to a clerk of the superior court, or to a justice court or city clerk that issues licenses, and signs an affidavit under oath. No statute sets a waiting period, and the license expires one year after it is issued. Covenant marriage is optional and requires premarital counseling.
A.R.S. §§ 12-284(A), (L), 25-121, 25-126, 25-127, 25-901; Arizona Supreme Court filing fee schedule effective December 28, 2024

Who can marry you. Licensed or ordained clergy and state and federal judges, including justices of the peace and municipal judges, may officiate. Clergy means anyone a religious society’s rules authorize; the statute does not address online ordination. Two witnesses aged 18 or older must participate. A marriage is still valid if at least one spouse believed in good faith that the person officiating was authorized.
A.R.S. §§ 25-111(B)(2), 25-124, 25-125

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot marry in Arizona by agreement without a ceremony. Arizona honors a common-law marriage validly formed in another state, but a short trip does not create one. In Grant, a few hours at a Texas motel failed because the couple never lived together there. Residents may not go elsewhere to evade Arizona’s marriage laws.
A.R.S. §§ 25-111(A), 25-112; Grant v. Superior Court, 27 Ariz. App. 427, 555 P.2d 895 (1976)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Arizona is one of nine community property jurisdictions. Community property. What either of you earns during the marriage belongs to both of you as it’s earned, and it’s generally split in half at the end. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Property either spouse acquires during marriage is community property, and the court divides it equitably. Property owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance stays separate, along with its growth, except growth from a spouse’s labor, which the court apportions. Accumulation stops when a petition is served, if that petition ends in a decree.
A.R.S. §§ 25-211, 25-213, 25-318(A); Cockrill v. Cockrill, 124 Ariz. 50, 601 P.2d 1334 (1979)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It can stay separate if you can trace it. Putting an inheritance in a joint bank account is not presumed a gift. The account belongs to the spouses by net contribution unless clear and convincing evidence shows a different intent, and absent proof their contributions are presumed equal. Commingled money that cannot be traced is treated as community. Separate money put into jointly titled real estate is presumed a gift.
Stevenson v. Stevenson, 132 Ariz. 44, 643 P.2d 1014 (1982); O’Hair v. O’Hair, 109 Ariz. 236, 508 P.2d 66 (1973); Cooper v. Cooper, 130 Ariz. 257, 635 P.2d 850 (1981); A.R.S. § 14-6211(A)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Arizona is a community property state. A spouse’s medical care is normally a community debt, so the community property, including the other spouse’s earnings, is liable from the first dollar, followed by the separate property of the spouse who incurred the debt; the other spouse’s separate property is not liable unless that spouse agreed, and the criminal nonsupport statute does not make it liable.
A.R.S. § 25-215(A), (D); Phoenix Baptist Hosp. & Med. Ctr. v. Aiken, 179 Ariz. 289, 877 P.2d 1345 (App. 1994)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

Arizona has no elective share. At death each spouse’s separate property and half of the community property pass by will or intestacy, and the survivor keeps his or her own half of the community. Arizona’s quasi-community rule for property acquired out of state applies only in divorce, not at death.
A.R.S. § 14-3101(A); A.R.S. § 25-211; A.R.S. § 25-318(A)

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under UPAA (1983), A.R.S. §§ 25-201 to 25-205; separate postnuptial statute A.R.S. § 25-202.01 (2026). A premarital agreement is unenforceable only if not signed voluntarily, or if unconscionable when signed and the challenger lacked fair disclosure, did not waive it in writing, and did not otherwise know the other’s finances. A postnuptial agreement is unenforceable if the challenger proves by clear and convincing evidence that it was tainted by fraud, coercion or undue influence, that the challenger lacked full knowledge of the property and rights involved, that it is not fair and equitable, or that it does not reflect a mutual intent to divide or delineate property.
A.R.S. § 25-202(C); A.R.S. § 25-202.01(C), (D); Estate of Harber, 104 Ariz. 79, 449 P.2d 7 (1969)

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties and needs no consideration; there is no notary, witness, waiting-period or counsel requirement. Disclosure matters only through the unconscionability defense, a court may order support despite a waiver that would make a spouse eligible for public assistance, and a postnuptial agreement must also be in writing and signed by both.
A.R.S. § 25-202(A), (C), (D); A.R.S. § 25-202.01(A)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. The Arizona guidelines follow the income shares model. Support ends at 18, or continues while the child attends high school or an equivalency program, but only until 19. A court may extend support for a severely disabled child. A court cannot order college support; a parent’s promise to pay is enforced only by a separate contract suit.
Arizona Child Support Guidelines, effective January 1, 2022, revised September 21, 2022; A.R.S. § 25-320(D)-(F); Solomon v. Findley, 167 Ariz. 409, 808 P.2d 294 (1991)

Moving away with a child. When both parents live in Arizona and share legal decision-making or parenting time, a parent must give 45 days’ written notice before moving the child out of state or more than 100 miles within it. The other parent has 30 days to petition the court. The moving parent must prove the move serves the child’s best interests.
A.R.S. § 25-408(A)-(C), (G), (I)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: 90 days. One spouse must have been domiciled in Arizona, or stationed there in the military, for 90 days before filing. The statute adds no county period and does not depend on where the couple married or where the grounds arose.
A.R.S. §§ 25-311, 25-312(A)(1)

How long it takes. A court grants a divorce when it finds the marriage irretrievably broken, with no reasonable prospect of reconciliation. A spouse who denies that under oath gets a hearing, and the court may continue the case up to 60 days. No hearing can occur until 60 days after service. Covenant marriages need other grounds, such as two years apart.
A.R.S. §§ 25-312(A)(3)-(4), (C)-(D), 25-329, 25-903

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 150 days from arrival to a final decree (90 days of residence + 60-day wait after service). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

Earnings from elsewhere count as community property. A court here treats what either spouse acquired while living elsewhere as community property if it would have been community property here. In 1986 an Arizona appeals court applied that rule to a husband who still lived in California, after the wife moved here and filed.
A.R.S. § 25-318(A); Martin v. Martin, 156 Ariz. 440 (Ct. App. 1986)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Arizona and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Arizona lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Arizona” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.