Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 25 > Chapter 9 > Article 2 - Jurisdiction

• 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
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision of a country, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and to which any of the following applies:

  (a) It has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202

• Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Home state: means the state or foreign country in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing a petition or a comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state or foreign country in which the child lived from birth with any of them. 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
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• 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

• Outside this state: means a location in another state or a country other than the United States, whether or not the country is a foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
• Petition: includes a complaint. 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
• Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or a foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
• Spousal support order: means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor. 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 enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity or private agency authorized to do any of the following:

  (a) Seek the enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. 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
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215