questions & answers

Question: When my son was born my boyfriend signed the paternity affidavit saying that he was the father but I had full custody over my son. Now we are separated and he wants partial custody over him. What steps do we have to go through in order to make that happen?

Answer: The following is provided for general information only. To find out how the law applies to a specific situation, please contact an attorney directly. You may want to review this article on this site about custody and parenting timehttp://azlawhelp.org/articles_info.cfm?sc=11&mc=1&articleid=68# in Arizona. The article states: Either parent may request in writing that the court modify a custody order. To change an existing order it must be shown that the best interests of the child are served. The request is filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court and a fee for filing is charged; however, there are limitations on requesting a modification. For example, a request may not be filed for one year from the date of the earlier order, unless there are special circumstances seriously endangering the child's physical, mental, emotional or moral health. If a form of joint custody has been ordered, a modification may be requested at any time if there is evidence that domestic violence, spousal abuse or child abuse has occurred since the date the last order was granted. In a joint custody situation, a parent must wait six months before seeking a modification if the reason for the request is that one parent has failed to obey the court's custody order.