Rule 91.1.Post-Judgment Petition to Modify Spousal Maintenance or Child Support

Rule 91.1 covers the two money modifications, and both turn on the same threshold.

The standard

Each petition must comply with Rule 91 and include a statement of the facts establishing substantial and continuing changes in circumstances supporting the modification. Not a change; a change that is both substantial and continuing. That phrasing does the work of screening out petitions based on a temporary dip in income or a one-time expense, and it is what the court measures the petition against at the Rule 91(i)(1) screening stage.

Spousal maintenance

Disclosure is four items: an Affidavit of Financial Information under Rule 91(g), a proposed Spousal Maintenance Calculator worksheet, proof of income from all sources as Rule 91(m)(3) defines it, and relevant documents regarding any relevant statutory factor.

Child support

The standard procedure requires the same changed-circumstances statement, plus a copy of the most recent child support worksheet supporting the existing order, if available. Disclosure is the Affidavit of Financial Information and proof of income from all sources.

A party may instead use the simplified procedure in the Arizona Child Support Guidelines, following the procedures the Guidelines specify rather than this rule's.

Title IV-D

Where the State brings the petition, it must serve both parents with the petition, the issued Order to Appear, and a blank Affidavit of Financial Information, with instructions to complete, file and exchange it within 30 days after service. Each party also gives a completed copy to the State.

Serving both parents is the feature to notice. In a private modification the applicant serves the other party; here the State is the applicant and neither parent is, so both must be brought in -- and the State supplies the form rather than assuming either parent knows to obtain it.