Arizona Laws 25-1225. Continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify child support order
A. A tribunal of this state that has issued a support order consistent with the law of this state has and shall exercise continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify its child support order if the order is the controlling order and either:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 25-1225
- Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Child support order: means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Initiating tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Issuing tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Obligee: means any of the following:
(a) An individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Obligor: means an individual or the estate of a decedent that meets any of the following conditions:
(a) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and that is retrievable in perceivable form. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision or directive, whether temporary, final or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse or a former spouse, that provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
- Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
1. At the time of the filing of a request for modification this state is the residence of the obligor, the individual obligee or the child for whose benefit the support order is issued.
2. If this state is not the residence of the obligor, the individual obligee or the child for whose benefit the support order is issued, the parties consent in a record or in open court that the tribunal of this state may continue to exercise jurisdiction to modify its order.
B. A tribunal of this state that has issued a child support order consistent with the law of this state shall not exercise continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify the order if either:
1. All of the parties who are individuals file consent in a record with the tribunal of this state that a tribunal of another state that has jurisdiction over at least one of the parties who is an individual or that is located in the state of residence of the child may modify the order and assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction.
2. Its order is not the controlling order.
C. If a tribunal of another state has issued a child support order pursuant to the uniform interstate family support act or a law substantially similar to that act and that modifies a child support order of a tribunal of this state, tribunals of this state shall recognize the continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of the tribunal of the other state.
D. A tribunal of this state that lacks continuing, exclusive jurisdiction to modify a child support order may serve as an initiating tribunal to request a tribunal of another state to modify a support order issued in that state.
E. A temporary support order issued ex parte or pending resolution of a jurisdictional conflict does not create continuing, exclusive jurisdiction in the issuing tribunal.