Rule 3.Definitions

Rule 3 is eleven definitions. Most point outward to a statute; three do real work of their own.

Petitioner and respondent, permanently

A party is an individual or a private or public entity designated in a pleading as petitioner, respondent or third party — and the State of Arizona may be designated as a party. The petitioner is whoever files the first petition; the respondent is any opposing party other than the petitioner.

Then the sentence that settles a recurring confusion: the petitioner and respondent are referred to by those designations in all later filings in the same case, including motions and post-decree or post-judgment petitions. A parent who files a petition to modify years after the decree does not become "the petitioner" — the original designations hold.

One case, however many petitions

A family law case is a case assigned a unique number when an initial pleading is filed under Rule 23, or two or more cases consolidated under one number. And expressly: filing a post-decree petition under Rule 23, including a petition for civil contempt under Rule 92, does not create a separate family law case.

That definition is load-bearing elsewhere. Rule 6 gives each party one change of judge as a matter of right "in each family law case", so this is what decides whether a post-decree petition renews it — and Rule 6(g) answers that question separately.

In camera

Subsection (d) defines in camera review concretely rather than by Latin: the judicial officer reviews the document in chambers, not in open court; the party holding it submits it directly to the judicial officer without disclosing it to the other party; and the officer then privately decides whether it should be disclosed.

The rest

Adult in need of protection, conservator, guardian and incapacitated person all take their meaning from Titles 8 and 14 — with (c) adding that guardian is defined "in order to distinguish a guardian from a guardian ad litem or best interests attorney". A pleading is a document filed under Rules 23(a), 23(c), 23(f), 28 or 33 — a closed list. Sealing is the clerk's act of restricting access under Rule 17. Title IV-D is the federal child support program, administered in Arizona by the Division of Child Support Services. A witness is anyone whose sworn testimony is offered for any purpose, whether by oral examination, deposition or affidavit.