• Arizona rules of family law procedures control litigation practices.Legal Law Justice image by Stacey Alexander from Fotolia.com
  
  Procedure laws are rules that set out the procedures for filing and litigating law suits. In Arizona, the courts have laid out rules and procedures for family law cases that dictate the types of pleadings and motions the court will hear, the method in which the parties can discover each other's evidence and the lawful requirements for service of the legal process on the opposing party.
  
  

Pleadings and Motions

• Pleadings are legal statements made by the parties that define their position in the case. In Arizona family law, the pleadings are the commencement of the action, the petition for a divorce and the opposing party's response, or answer, to that request. Other pleadings are also accepted in Arizona family court such as a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity.
  
  Motions, on the other hand, are written requests made by one of the parties. Typically, motions ask the judge to issue a ruling on an issue or matter in the case, such as child custody or spousal support or to make a lawful order, such a temporary restraining order against one of the parties.
  
  

Service of Process

• Service of process is a legal procedure that ensures a party being sued for something has legal, official notice that he or she is being sued in which court and by whom. In Arizona, the opposing party must be effectively served within 120 days from the day the pleading or motion was filed. For service to be effective and accepted by Arizona courts, a court-authorized copy of the lawsuit, called a summons, must be signed by the court clerk and delivered by a sheriff, a sheriff's deputy or a registered process server to the opposing party or his or her attorney of record if he or she has one. Proof of service must then be filed with the court, once the opposing party has been served.
  
  

Discovery & Disclosure

• Before a case goes to trial for a final decision, known as a judgment, the parties go through a period of discovery. During discovery, each party requests information from the other party to discover the other side's facts in the case, obtain names of witnesses if there are any and consider all evidence. Some states, such as Arizona, also have minimum disclosure requirements that apply to every family law case. In Arizona, within 40 days of filing a petition for divorce, or the response, the parties must supply an Affidavit of Financial Information, which details, among other things, each parties' gross income plus copies of property deeds, copies of outstanding marital debts, a list of witnesses and disclosure of any experts who will testify at trial. After these initial disclosures are made, each party can then request additional discovery of evidence such as conducting depositions or sending written interrogatories.