How to File for Divorce in Maricopa County: Step by Step

Step 1: Confirm you can file, and pick the right packet

One spouse must have been domiciled in Arizona for at least 90 days before filing, under A.R.S. § 25-312. The forms then come in two families: dissolution with minor children and without — the with-children packet adds parenting, child support, and the required Parent Information Program. The Superior Court’s Law Library Resource Center publishes the current packets and an online form tool, so use the court’s own forms rather than a generic template.

Step 2: File with the Clerk of the Superior Court

The petition, summons, and supporting documents are filed with the Clerk of the Superior Court — for most families through the downtown filing counters or a regional site such as the Southeast or Northwest court centers, and electronically where available. The filing fee is a few hundred dollars (it changes periodically — check the Clerk’s current schedule), and a fee deferral or waiver is available for filers who cannot afford it. Filing triggers an automatic preliminary injunction that binds both spouses once served: no selling community property, no canceling insurance, no taking the children out of state without consent, no harassment.

Step 3: Serve your spouse

Your spouse must be formally served — by a registered process server or sheriff’s deputy, or by signing an acceptance of service, which is the simplest route when the divorce is amicable. Service must generally happen within 90 days of filing. After service, an in-state spouse has 20 days to respond (30 from out of state); a spouse who never responds can be defaulted, and the case proceeds without them.

Step 4: The first 60 days — and the fork in the road

The court cannot enter a decree until 60 days after service. Where everything is agreed, spouses can submit a consent decree once the window closes — often without either appearing in court; where it is not, the case moves into disclosure, temporary orders, and negotiation. Parents of minor children must each complete the Parent Information Program class early in the case. What the decree must actually resolve — property, decision-making and parenting time, support, maintenance — is covered on our divorce page, and the governing law in the Arizona divorce laws guide.

Where filing without counsel goes wrong

The clerk accepts paperwork; nobody checks whether the decree you drafted actually protects you. The recurring self-filed mistakes: decrees that divide the house but not the retirement accounts, support calculated on the wrong income, parenting plans too vague to enforce, and defaults taken — or suffered — without understanding what they lock in. A consult before filing, or a limited-scope review of an agreed decree, costs a fraction of fixing any of those later.