Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona

Re: custody of a child question...

Under Arizona law, the mother is the presumed custodian if the child has been with her. However, under AZ law, joint custody will be presumed if someone files a petition for paternity, custody and parenting time(or just for custody and parenting time if paternity has been established already). This is so unless the father or mother have been convicted of a drug offsense in the last year or DUI offenses or there is significant domestic violence against the other party.

This presumption is rebuttable. This means that the party who is being called unfit can provide evidence to the court to show why the presumption should shift from sole custody back to joint.