Significant changes will take effect next month relating to the way Orders of Protection are delivered for service (See A.R.S. § 13-3602). On January 1, 2020, issuing courts will become responsible for transmitting the defendant’s packet to the appropriate law enforcement agency for service. When the law goes into effect, your local County Sheriff will no longer be responsible for transmitting data on served orders to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Instead,

When a person is named as a Defendant/Respondent in a legal matter involving civil litigation, traffic violations, divorce, child support, tax code violations, and sometimes even criminal matters, a Summons is issued directing the person to either appear in Court or respond in writing to the opposing party(ies). Depending on the type of legal matter, the Summons may be served by a number of different means. In most instances, the Summons must be served by Process Server, Cert

A Trust does not replace a Will. Most Trusts deal only with specific assets, such as life insurance or a piece of property, while a Will governs distribution of nearly everything else in your estate. The biggest advantage to a Trust is that your heirs can avoid the court’s probate process, which (depending on the size of the estate) ultimately saves them money. A Trust covers property that has been specifically transferred to it. The Will covers all property in your name at

We have all heard of the dreaded Prenuptial Agreement--a written contract between two people who are about to marry, setting out the terms of possession of assets, treatment of future earnings, control of the property of each, and potential division if the marriage is later dissolved. Oftentimes, neither spouse wishes to discuss the possibility of divorce when they are both still very much in love with one another. Unfortunately, statistics do not support the idea that a hap

Although rarely (if ever) planned, more than 50% of marriages end in divorce. When a couple divorces or legally separates, the parties will divide their debts and assets in accordance with the terms of the final Decree (or Order). In some situations, one spouse is able to set aside a significantly larger retirement savings than the other spouse (e.g, if one spouse stayed home to raise children while the other pursued a career). In such cases, a common tool utilized in divor

A paralegal is a person with legal knowledge, training, and experience who works under the supervision of an attorney. A legal document preparer, on the other hand, is an individual or business entity certified and licensed by the Arizona Supreme Court to prepare or provide legal documents, without the supervision of an attorney, for an entity or a member of the public who is engaging in self representation in any legal matter. A CLDP is allowed to prepare any legal document(