Gilbert, AZ Custody Attorneys

Overview

Most parents come in worried about one thing, and it is almost never the statute. It is whether they are going to see their kids on a normal Tuesday. Whether they will still be the one at the orthodontist appointment. Whether the other parent is going to use the process to push them out.

Those are the right things to be worried about, and they are what a parenting plan actually decides. Our Gilbert custody attorneys keep caseloads deliberately low so your case gets worked rather than managed. Call for a free consultation and we will tell you plainly what we think is achievable, including the parts you may not want to hear.

Arizona custody law

How Arizona Decides Legal Decision-Making and Parenting Time

Arizona law splits what most people call custody into two separate decisions. Legal decision-making is the authority over the big questions: school, medical care, religious upbringing. Parenting time is the actual calendar, who has the children when.

Under A.R.S. § 25-403, the court decides both according to the child’s best interests and weighs all relevant factors, including each child’s relationship with each parent, each child’s adjustment to home and school, the mental and physical health of everyone involved, and which parent is more likely to allow frequent, meaningful contact with the other.

That last factor catches people off guard. A parent who is doing everything right at home can still lose ground by making the other parent’s time difficult. We would rather tell you that early than watch it come up at a hearing.

Where your case is heard

Where a Gilbert Custody Case Is Heard

Gilbert is in Maricopa County. Of the four locations where Maricopa County Superior Court hears family law, the Southeast Regional Center at 222 E. Javelina Avenue in Mesa is the closest to Gilbert. The others are the Central Court Building in downtown Phoenix, the Northeast Regional Center on North 40th Street, and the Northwest Regional Center in Surprise.

Proximity is not assignment. The court decides which division hears your case, and a growing number of hearings run by video. Your hearing notice is the only document that tells you where to be and in what form, and it is worth rereading before every appearance rather than working from the last one.

The school district question

The School District Question Gilbert Parents Actually Face

This is where Gilbert cases differ from most.

Gilbert is not served by a single school district. Most of the town falls within Gilbert Public Schools, while other areas are zoned to Higley Unified, Chandler Unified, or Mesa Public Schools, and each district runs its own open enrollment process. South Gilbert families in particular often find themselves inside Chandler Unified boundaries.

That matters legally. School choice sits inside legal decision-making. So when one parent moves from north Gilbert to south Gilbert, the child’s default school assignment can change even though nobody left town. If your order says the parents share legal decision-making and says nothing else, you now have a decision that requires agreement and a deadline that does not care whether you reach one.

Open enrollment cuts both ways here. It can be the fix, letting a child stay put after a move. It can also be the fight, when one parent applies without telling the other.

Parenting plans we draft for Gilbert families name the district and the school, say what happens if either parent’s address changes the assignment, and set out who decides and by when if the parents cannot agree. It takes an extra paragraph at the drafting stage and saves a modification petition later.

Moving away

The 100-Mile Line Runs Closer to Gilbert Than People Think

Gilbert sits at the southeast edge of the metro, which means a move that feels local can still be a legal event. A job in Casa Grande or Tucson is the kind of relocation that engages A.R.S. § 25-408.

The statute requires 45 days advance written notice before a parent moves a child out of state or more than 100 miles inside Arizona, where both parents hold joint legal decision-making or parenting time and both live here. Service is by certified mail with return receipt, or by the methods the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure permit.

From there the clock belongs to the other parent, who has 30 days to petition against the move. Miss it and the petition needs good cause, which is a materially worse position.

A relocating parent carries the burden of proving the move serves the child. The court applies the A.R.S. § 25-403 factors and the additional relocation factors, among them whether the move is sought or resisted in good faith.

The cheapest hour you will spend on a relocation is the one before notice goes out.