Outkast, Ms. Jackson, and Custody Terminology in Arizona
Outkast’s 2000 song, Ms. Jackson, is all about child ‘custody’. As the song goes, “she wanna…start a custody war, my lawyers stay down…you never got a chance to hear my side of the story, we was divided, she had fish fries and cookouts for my child’s birthday, I ain’t invited.”
I’m sorry Ms. Jackson – but in Arizona there is no such thing as child ‘custody’. And yes — I am for real.
To be accurate, in Arizona, the song would need to be, “she wanna…start a legal decision-making, parenting time, and child support war.” Not nearly as catchy but, in 2013, the Arizona legislature removed the word ‘custody’ from Arizona’s family law statutes and specifically, from A.R.S.A.R.S. is an abbreviation for Arizona Revised Statutes. It is most commonly used as a reference. For example, if one types in, ARS 25-403 into Google or Bing, they'll likely be returned with links to Arizona's statute on the best interests factors and articles, web sites, and…Read more about A.R.S. Title 25. Instead, the Arizona legislature opted to break what was once ‘custody,’ into three (3) parts: (1) Legal Decision-MakingThis is the right to make decisions on behalf of the child when it comes to decisions involving the child’s health, education, religion, or personal care. It does not include the right to dictate the child’s parenting time schedule or place conditions on the other parent’s time.…Read more about Legal Decision-Making, (2) Parenting TimeThis is what it sounds like—this is when it’s the parent’s time with the child(ren). See A.R.S § 25-401(5). Prior to 2012, it was known as physical custody.Read more about Parenting Time, and (3) Child SupportBy law, every person has a duty to support their biological or adopted children. See A.R.S § 25-501(A). This applies without or without a court order. The term “child support,” though, generally refers the Court-ordered amount one parent is required to pay to the other parent.Read more about Child Support. In any family law matter involving children, these issues must be agreed on by the parents or decided by the Court. These terms are defined in A.R.S. 25-401, but to clarify:
Legal decision-making refers to the right to make major, non-emergency, decisions for a child. For example, who the child’s primary physician should be, where the child should go to school, or whether the child should enroll in counseling. Parents can agree to make these decisions together and to exercise joint legal decision-making authority. Alternatively, parents can agree one parent shall solely be tasked with making these decisions and to allow that parent to exercise Sole Legal Decision-MakingIf the court orders sole legal decision-making, the parent with the sole legal decision-making authority makes all decisions related to the child’s health, education, religious upbringing, or personal care.Read more about Sole Legal Decision-Making authority. As a middle ground, parents can also agree to make these decisions together but, in the instance of a dispute, can agree one parent shall be able to break the tie and to exercise final decision-making authority.
Parenting time is the most comparable to what used to be ‘custody,’ and refers to the time each parent is scheduled to spend with the child. Absent a reason to the contrary, parents often agree to MaximizeThe word "maximize" is used in Arizona family law in connection with the Court's duty to "maximize" each parent's time with the child. ARS 25-403.02. Maximize, of course, means as much as possible. While 25-403.02 requires a court to maximize each parent's time with the child…Read more about Maximize a child’s time with both parents and to exercise equal parenting time/an equal schedule.
Child support refers to the monthly payment a parent makes to support a child. The amount of this payment varies based on many factors but, the two (2) most prominent factors are each parent’s IncomeAs defined by A.R.S. § 25-500(6), “any form of payment owed to an individual, regardless of source, including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, workers' compensation, disability payments, payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program and interest.” See also child…Read more about Income and each parent’s amount of parenting time.
Overall, agreeing or getting the Court to determine these issues may be challenging but, hopefully, with this information, no “custody wars” are necessary.
Read more about Child Custody in Arizona.
