We continue to monitor the bill in the Arizona legislature to extend the waiting period for divorce.
The bill as amended was signed by the Governor on April 7, 2010. You can see the law as amended below. It would appear that the final version kept the 60 day waiting period but allowed a party to request an extension. This shifts the burden to the party who wants more time and not less.
"Sec. 2. Section 25-381.18, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE25-381.18. Dissolution of marriage; legal separation; annulment; stay of right to file; jurisdiction for pending actions
A. During a period beginning on the filing of a petition for conciliation and continuing until sixty days after the filing of the petition for conciliation, neither spouse shall file any action for annulment, dissolution of marriage or legal separation, and, on the filing of a petition for conciliation, proceedings then pending in the superior court are stayed and the case shall be transferred to the conciliation court for hearing and further disposition as provided in this article. All restraining, support, maintenance or custody orders issued by the superior court remain in full force and effect until vacated or modified by the conciliation court or until they expire by their own terms.
b. if either party wants to extend the stay under subsection a, that party shall file a petition with the court stating the basis for the extension, which may include a plan for reconciliation or a counseling schedule. the court shall grant an extension of up to one hundred twenty days unless the other party establishes good cause for proceeding without delay.
B. c. If, however, after the expiration of the period prescribed in subsection A and any extension granted under subsection b, the controversy between the spouses has not been terminated, either spouse may institute proceedings for annulment of marriage, dissolution of marriage or legal separation by filing in the clerk's office additional pleadings complying with the requirements relating to annulment of marriage, dissolution of marriage or legal separation, respectively, or either spouse may proceed with the action previously stayed, and the conciliation court has full jurisdiction to hear, try and determine the action for annulment of marriage, dissolution of marriage or legal separation and to retain jurisdiction of the case for further hearings on decrees or orders to be made. The conciliation provisions of this article may be used in regard to postdissolution problems concerning maintenance support, parenting time or contempt or for modification based on changed conditions in the discretion of the conciliation court.
C. d. On the filing of an action for annulment, dissolution of marriage or legal separation and after the expiration of sixty days from the service or the acceptance of service of process on or by the defendant, neither spouse without the consent of the other may file a petition invoking the jurisdiction of the conciliation court, as long as the domestic relations case remains pending, unless it appears to the court that the filing will not delay the orderly processes of the pending action, in which event the court may accept the petition and the filing of the petition has the same effect as the filing of any such petition within such sixty days after the service or acceptance of process."
Amend title to conform See at:
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/adopted/1199grayl445.doc.htm
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Some boxes, pictures, and my carrom board recently were delivered to my home by Harold. As usual I chatted with Harold as he moved the boxes off the truck and I checked them off. The topic got around to divorce. Harold told me that divorce changes nothing. He said if you drank before you would drink after. If you cheated on your spouse you would continue to cheat on your new significant other. He said there was very likely that if you remarried it would be someone like your previous spouse. As a person who has counseled couples for 30 years that they could have a new beginning this was quite a revelation. I certainly have seen many individuals get a fresh start but I think Harold observation is very important. If individuals want a different life, they have to work at it and be careful they don’t repeat the behavior which caused them to get divorced.
