In December of 2106, the Arizona Supreme Court set up a Task Force to review and revise the family law rules used here in our state. After many months of hard work and several revisions, the new family law rules were approved and, for the most part, are applied in all family law cases after January 1, 2019. A recent article in the Arizona Attorney magazine noted: “The new rules are (completely) re-styled, (modestly) rearranged, and (occasssionally) changed substantively.” All in all, the Task Force made the new Family Law Rules “reasonable and readable for those that use them, including self-represented parties.”

The newly revised rules cleans up some prior conflicts and inconsistencies with other law rules. They make it clear when juvenile court and family courts should be in charge in situations where there is overlap. The largest change is in the area of service by publication, which now is only allow by court permission in advance.

From the perspective of a family law practitioner, the most controversial change to the rules is in that area of motions for temporary orders. Here the revised Rules are trying to discourage wasteful and unnecessary temporary orders hearings by first forcing a meeting – called a Resolution Management Conference – to see if the parties will simply agree first before having a hearing. While I commend the intention, it has been my experience is contentious cases that most parties refusing to do something (like voluntarily paying temporary child support), do not do so until they are forced to by the court.

A welcomed change to the new Rules includes a detailed list of documents that are required to be automatically produced under Rule 49. While the Rules have had a general disclosure requirement for years, the new Rules are in a new format and expands the types of documents that parties must voluntarily disclose without being asked. If followed, therefore, this will be a welcome addition to smoothly and easily moving a case along.

As in the past, time will tell if these new revisions will assist in moving cases along or be ignored and forgotten. Hopefully, it will be the former not the latter.