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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
domestic relations; domestic violence
Purpose
An emergency measure that revises the statutory requirements that apply to a legal decision-making or parenting time matter or a modification of a legal decision-making or parenting time matter when there is an allegation of domestic violence.
Background
Joint legal decision-making may not be awarded if the court makes a finding of significant domestic violence or that there has been a significant history of domestic violence. The court must consider evidence of domestic violence as being contrary to the best interests of the child and consider the safety and well-being of the child and the victim of the domestic violence to be of primary importance. To determine if a person has committed domestic violence, the court must consider: 1) findings from another court of competent jurisdiction; 2) police reports; 3) medical reports; 4) records of the Department of Child Safety (DCS); 5) domestic violence shelter records; 6) school records; and 7) witness testimony.
If the court
determines that a parent who is seeking sole or joint legal decision-making has
committed an act of domestic violence against the other parent, then, unless
both parents have committed an act of domestic violence, there is a rebuttable
presumption that an award of sole or joint legal decision-making to the parent
who committed the act of domestic violence is contrary to the child's best
interests. A person commits an act of domestic violence if the person:
1) intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause sexual
assault or serious physical injury; 2) places a person in reasonable
apprehension of imminent serious physical injury to any person; or 3) engages
in a pattern of behavior for which a court may issue an ex parte order to
protect the other parent who is seeking child custody or to protect the child
and the child's siblings. To determine if the parent has rebutted the
presumption the court must consider whether the parent: 1) has demonstrated
that being awarded sole or joint legal decision-making or substantially equal
parenting time is in the child's best interests; 2) has successfully completed
a batterer's prevention program; 3) has successfully completed a program of
alcohol or drug abuse counseling, if appropriate; 4) has successfully completed
a parenting class, if appropriate; 5) is restrained by a protective order that
was granted after a hearing, if the parent is on probation, parole or community
supervision; and 6) has committed any further acts of domestic violence.
If the court finds that a parent has committed an act of domestic
violence, then that parent has the burden of proving to the court's
satisfaction that the parenting time will not endanger the child or
significantly impair the child's emotional development. If
the parent meets the burden of proof to the court's satisfaction, then the
court must place conditions on parenting time that best protect the child and
the other parent from further harm. The court may: 1) order that an exchange of
the child must occur in a protected setting as specified by the court; 2) order that a family or household member or an agency specified by
the court must supervise parenting time; 3) order the parent who committed the
act of domestic violence to attend and complete a program of intervention for
perpetrators of domestic violence and any other counseling the court orders;
4) order the parent who committed the act of domestic violence to abstain from
possessing or consuming alcohol or controlled substances for up to 24 hours before
parenting time;
5) order the parent who committed the act of domestic violence to pay a fee for
the costs of supervised parenting time; 6) prohibit overnight parenting time;
7) require a bond from the parent who committed the act of domestic violence
for the child's safe return; 8) order that the address of the child and the
other parent remain confidential; or 9) impose any other condition that the
court determines is necessary (A.R.S.
§ 25-403.03).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires the court, as a declared public policy of the state, to consider domestic violence, including child abuse, as contrary to a child's best interests.
2. Requires the court, in any legal decision-making and parenting time matter, to assign the highest priority to the personal safety and physical, mental and emotional well-being of both the child and domestic violence victim.
3. Requires the court, before entering an order for legal decision-making or parenting time, to resolve any domestic violence allegation by making specific written findings on the record about each of the following considerations for which evidence was admitted at a trial or other evidentiary hearing:
a) a thorough description of the evidence that justified or prevented a finding that domestic violence occurred;
b) after considering each outlined factor, a through explanation for why a parent who committed domestic violence did or did not rebut the rebuttable presumption; and
c) a thorough explanation for why the court's choice of precautions is in the child's best interests.
4. Stipulates that, if a parent who has committed domestic violence fails to overcome the rebuttable presumption, then the rebuttable presumption must continue to apply in any subsequent modification of a legal decision-making or parenting time proceeding.
5. Stipulates that a parent who has committed domestic violence and who previously failed to rebut the rebuttable presumption remains subject to the same presumption in any modification proceeding regardless of the allegations that are made in the new modification pleadings.
6. Requires the question of whether evidence now exists to overcome the rebuttable presumption to be resolved as a preliminary matter when the court decides whether a sufficient change of circumstances has occurred to allow a modification of a legal decision-making or parenting time order.
7. Requires the court to make written findings as prescribed by statute regarding an allegation of domestic violence, if a party to a proceeding for a temporary order for legal decision-making or parenting time alleges that the other party committed domestic violence.
8. Requires a claim of domestic violence to be established by a preponderance of the evidence.
9. Specifies that corroboration from exhibits or witness testimony is not required.
10. Requires the court, subject to the evidentiary standard, to consider:
a) factual determinations related to domestic violence from a court of competent jurisdiction;
b) evidence that is collected and reports that are prepared by a law enforcement agency, DCS and any other government agency;
c) the alleged victim's medical or behavioral health records, if the victim waives the associated privilege or other right to confidentiality;
d) records from a shelter for victims of domestic violence, if the victim provides informed written consent;
e) educational and school records;
f) other acts of domestic violence against any person that tend to prove the existence of conserve control, even if the other acts have been decided, predate the last decree or could have been litigated at another time or plane; and
g) witness testimony.
11. Stipulates that, if the court determines that a parent committed an act of domestic violence, there is a rebuttable presumption that an award of legal decision making or parenting time to the parent who committed the act of domestic violence is contrary to the child's best interests.
12. Prohibits the court from:
a) requiring the victim to prove that the domestic violence was severe or frequent enough to justify restricting the legal decision-making or parenting time of the parent who committed domestic violence; or
b) describing the parents' domestic violence as mutual or apply the rebuttable presumption to both parents, unless both parents lacked justification for their domestic violence to a similar degree and inflicted similar injury.
13. Requires the court, if a parent who committed domestic violence seeks to rebut the rebuttable presumption, to consider:
a) the severity and frequency of the parent's domestic violence against any person, including an assessment of whether the domestic violence was aggravated by:
i. physical injury or emotional trauma;
ii. use or threatened use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon;
iii. strangulation; or
iv. multiple forms of coercive control;
b) the extent to which the parent denied, deflected or minimized the domestic violence during treatment, forensic assessment, mandatory disclosure, formal discovery or courtroom proceedings;
c) whether the parent committed domestic violence with sufficient severity or frequency that the passage of time is not a mitigating factor;
d) whether the child has imitated any aspect of the parent's domestic violence behaviors; and
e) the parent's attendance at a domestic violence treatment program.
14. Requires the court to disregard the following factors as irrelevant to the rebuttable presumption:
a) the child's absence from the scene of any domestic violence;
b) the child's unawareness that domestic violence occurred; and
c) the child's preference for instating, maintaining or increasing contact with the parent who committed domestic violence.
15. Prohibits the court from granting any of the following to a parent who is restricted by the rebuttable presumption:
a) sole or joint legal decision-making, unless the parent overcomes the presumption by clear and convincing evidence;
b) unsupervised parenting time, unless the parent overcomes the presumption by clear and convincing evidence; or
c) supervised parenting time, unless the parent overcomes the presumption by a preponderance of the evidence.
16. Prohibits the court from considering a certificate of completion for a domestic violence program alone as proof of rehabilitation.
17. Requires a certificate of completion to be accompanied by:
a) a waiver of the statutory privilege or other confidentiality necessary to release the parent's treatment records to the court and the victim;
b) proof that the treatment program was relevant and proportionate to any domestic violence for which credible evidence is presented, taking into account the criteria that are outlined in the Arizona Administrative Code for the treatment of misdemeanor domestic violence offenders;
c) a demonstrated understanding of how the parent's domestic violence harmed the child and other parent; and
d) proof that the treatment program addressed and helped reduce any tendency to minimize or rationalize the parent's domestic violence.
18. Requires the court, for a parent who has committed domestic violence, to adopt precautions that prioritize the personal safety and physical, mental and emotional well-being of the child and other parent, which may include:
a) requiring that an exchange of the child occur in a protected location or a safe exchange location that is specified by the court;
b) limiting parenting time, including a prohibition on overnight parenting time with the child;
c) designating a professional agency or one or more laypeople to supervise parenting time;
d) requiring the parent who committed domestic violence to pay a fee for the costs of supervised parenting time;
e) suspending access to the child, in any form, until the parent who committed domestic violence can petition to modify legal decision-making or parenting time;
f) requiring the parent who committed domestic violence to attend and complete an assessment or program of intervention for perpetrators of domestic violence and any other counseling;
g) requiring a parent to abstain from possessing or consuming that substance and order random testing to ensure compliance, if the court finds that the parent who committed domestic violence has also abused any substance, including alcohol;
h) requiring a bond for the child's safe return from the parent who committed domestic violence;
i) requiring that the address of the child and other parent remain confidential; or
j) imposing any other condition that the court determines is necessary to protect the child, the other parent any other family or household member.
19. Prohibits the court from ordering a victim of domestic violence, whether the child or a parent, to join the parent who committed domestic violence in any inpatient or outpatient treatment program, counseling program or forensic assessment, whether telephonic, virtual or in person.
20. Prohibits the court from appointing a person to supervise parenting time unless the parent being supervised affirms that the parent will ensure that:
a) receive and read the court's order;
b) provide a reliable telephone number, email address and residential address to both parents;
c) intervene and contact an appropriate law enforcement agency, DCS and the other parent if the supervised parent's behavior endangers the child of becomes psychologically or psychically abusive; and
d) appear for future court proceedings and testify regarding the supervision.
21. Defines coercive control as a pattern of violent, threatening, coercive and emotionally abusive conduct by one parent against the other, without consent or justification, including:
a) sexual or other physical assault;
b) threatening to kill or injure a person, including oneself, or a household pet;
c) displaying, accessing, assembling or cleaning a firearm or other dangerous weapon in the other parent's presence, if the circumstances imply that weapon's threatened use in violation of state or federal law;
d) confinement or other restraining words or actions to restrict the other parent's freedom of movement or lawful activity;
e) isolation from friends and family;
f) monitoring or regulating financial activity, economic resources or access to services;
g) stalking or harassment;
h) demeaning, degrading or humiliating words or actions;
i) threatening to publish sensitive information, including sexually explicit material, of the other parent or member of the other parent's family;
j) threatening to make reports to law enforcement;
k) threatening, initiating or using civil litigation to:
i. force the other parent to defend against a legal claim that is false or frivolous; or
ii. regulate or restrict the other parent's lawful or constitutionally protected activity;
l) damaging property owned or lawfully possessed by the other parent or member of the other parent's family;
m) by act or conscious omission, jeopardizing the immigration status of the other parent or a member of the other parent’s family;
n) forcing the other parent to commit a crime against the other parent's stated wishes; or
o) using surveillance or tracking technology to facilitate or aggravate any of the outlined behaviors.
22. Defines domestic violence as, act or acts consisting of domestic violence or coercive control when perpetrated by one parent against the other parent or against a minor child living in either parent's household and does not include defense of oneself or another person.
23. Designates this legislation as the Alec and Lydia Act.
24. Makes technical and conforming changes.
25. Becomes effective on signature of the Governor, if the emergency clause is enacted.
Amendments Adopted by Committee
1. Modifies the factors that the court must address when reviewing an allegation of domestic violence.
2. Modifies the requirements for awarding a modification of legal decision-making or parenting time when there is an allegation of domestic violence.
3. Makes technical and conforming changes.
Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole
1. Adds an emergency clause.
2. Requires the court, in any legal decision-making and parenting time matter, to assign the highest priority to the personal safety and physical, mental and emotional well-being of the child and domestic violence victim.
3. Revises the factors that the court must consider when making a finding regarding an allegation of domestic violence.
4. Outlines factors that the court must disregard as irrelevant to the rebuttable presumption.
5. Prohibits the court from:
a) requiring the victim to prove the frequency and severity of the domestic violence to justify restricting the legal decision-making or parenting time of the parent; or
b) describing the parents' domestic violence as mutual or apply the rebuttable presumption to both parents, unless both parents lacked justification for their domestic.
6. Requires the court to otherwise apply the rebuttable presumption only to the parent whose conduct and motivation were more serious under the statutory definition of domestic violence.
8. Requires the court, for a parent who has committed domestic violence, to adopt prescribed precautions that prioritize the personal safety and well-being of the child and other parent.
9. Removes the requirement that the court, when determining whether the parent who committed domestic violence, must evaluate whether a parent's chosen treatment program was relevant and proportionate to the parent's history of domestic violence.
10. Removes the requirement that the court, in a modification of a legal decision-making or parenting time proceeding, decide a new allegation of domestic violence by applying the same public policy, priorities, procedures and definitions prescribed pursuant to statutory requirements for considering an allegation of domestic violence.
11. Modifies the definitions of domestic violence and coercive control.
12. Removes the definition of collateral act.
13. Makes technical and conforming changes.
House Action Senate Action
JUD 2/18/26 DPA 8-0-1-0 FFL 3/23/26 DPA 4-3-0
3rd Read 2/26/26 52-0-8
Prepared by Senate Research
May 15, 2026
AN/ci