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answered on Jul 11, 2022

Probate is expensive, time-consuming, difficult and public. I am not a fan. I do try to design plans for my clients that avoid probate.

You can help protect your children from abusive relatives if you put their inheritance in a trust with a professional fiduciary in charge. That way an... View More

A termination of parental rights does not terminate a parent's child support obligation. But when a child is adopted by someone else, the terminated parent's obligation to pay child support ends.

This comes from ARS 8-539, which reads: " An order terminating the parent-child... View More

There are so many variables. If there is any way you can consult with a competent family law attorney in Pima County, I suggest you do so. If your ex has not made any financial contributions and lives outside the US, I think you have a good case for limiting his visitation to supervised visitation... View More

Yes. If you do not respond, the Court can set the matter for trial whether you are ready or not.

Do an internet search for "Arizona legal self-help." There are resources that may assist you in responding.

Yes, you can. But you probably should get the lawyer on board as soon as you can because there are deadlines approaching in your case as trial gets closer. The longer you wait, the less strategic options your attorney has.

This is an incredibly complex question for an "Ask-a-lawyer" service but I will give you the highlights.

Your answer depends on whether or not you were married to the father and whether or not you have a custody order from Texas or any other state. Assuming you are not married and... View More

The short answer is no.

If you establish paternity he will be required to pay child support but he can also assert a right to parent time. 50/50 custody is presumed to be in the best interest of the child but it appears you are in Minnesota and the father may be in Arizona?... View More

You certainly can file a Petition for Third-Party Visitation.

You probably cannot file for custody unless you can prove that (1) your brother considers you to be like a mother to him, and (2) it would be significantly detrimental for your brother to be in the care of your mother or any... View More

Yes, you can appeal, provided you have not missed the deadline to start an appeal.

But I want to be frank with you because I don't want to see you spend time, money, and energy pursuing something that is not going to get you where you want to go. And I preface this by saying I... View More

The overall answer to your question is the most common lawyer answer of all (and also the most disappointing lawyer answer): It depends.

It depends on what your Court order says about her rights:

LEGAL DECISION-MAKING

Sole legal decision-making does not include the right to... View More

This was filed as a question for Arizona, but I see you're in California. California has a confidential marriage license; Arizona does not. Still, Arizona will recognize marriages legally entered into another state even if their procedures are different than Arizona's.

I'm... View More

Realistically, you probably won't find a pro bono attorney for a family law case. There are very few attorneys who take on a family law case pro bono, and for those few that do, spots are very competitive. You may have better luck going through the state bar's Modest Means program, where... View More

Yes, absolutely they will take away your children if you smoke marijuana while pregnant. It's not an issue of whether it's legal--the issue is that it's dangerous for the child.

Use of marijuana while pregnant can cause a variety of problems, including restrict your... View More

I know this is not what you want to hear, but all you can do is file in Mexico. Mexico has jurisdiction, Arizona doesn't.

There are two laws that bear on this, and both favor Mexico.

The first is the international treaty to decide child custody jurisdiction between two... View More

Yes, if you have a custody dispute you will also be determining child support. A deep dive into your financial affairs is required to determine child support where parents dispute earnings. The courts have the authority to require you to produce all relevant financial information.

Your son SHOULD be on the birth certificate. To find out for sure, just have him request a copy of the birth certificate (you can request a copy if you want to submit a copy of HIS birth certificate). If he is on the birth certificate, they will send him a copy. If he is NOT on the birth... View More

I think just showing up and taking the kids would do more harm than good, and most likely, the police aren't going to assist you; they will instead tell you that you need to go file with the Court.

If I were you, I'd file a Petition to Modify Legal Decision-making, Parenting... View More

He will have a right to see her if he is clean, but you would want to ask for supervised parenting time at his expense at a court affiliated parenting skills center or no parenting time if he is using.

You should consult with an attorney because that's a complicated question.

Arizona is generally a 50-50 state, and Arizona generally only goes away from 50-50 if there's some sort of safety concern with one of the parents or it's not logistically possible to do equal... View More

Yes, it's possible. You will need to ask for spousal maintenance, and will likely need to ask for temporary spousal maintenance. Whether or not a Court will actually order spousal maintenance is a different question and probably only be answered after a consultation.