Facts about Mental Health Issues

Magellan Health Services of Arizona (the Regional Behavioral Health Authority for central Arizona) recently released some facts about mental health issues.  Here they are:

• One in five adults, approximately 57.7 million people nationwide, experiences mental illness in any given year.
• One in 17 lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder, and about one in ten children have a serious mental or emotional disorder.
• Of the adults who use services for the homeless, it is reported that 31% have a combination of these conditions.
• Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental disorder with a least 20% experiencing significant functional impairment from a serious mental illness.
• An estimated 5.2 million adults have co-occuring mental health and addiction disorders.
• People who suffer from a serious mental illness often have a greater risk of having chronic medical issues.

Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

Signs Your Spouse or Child May be Using Drugs

Many Arizona divorce and child custody cases I deal with involve one party suspected of abusing drugs and/or alcohol.  There may also be issues where a child is suspected of drug use.  Here are some signs that may indicate drug use (realize however that there could be other reasons for these behaviors):

Emotional and Social Signs

• Moodiness, excitement, anger, hostility, depression
• Constant lying and stealing
• Refusing to admit to the harmful effects of drgus
• Avoiding old friends or people who could confront them about behavior changes
• Being secretive about phone calls
• Having friends they do not want you to meet or talk about
• Being evasive about their whereabouts
• Loss of motivation
• No interest in everyday life
• Playing truant from school

Physical Signs

• Drowsiness
• Trembling
• Red eyes, dilated pupils
• Lack of interest in personal hygiene and appearance
• Slurred speech
• Loss of, or increase in appetite
• Uncoordinated movements
• Circles under the eyes
• Irregular sleeping habits
• Frequent colds and coughs
• Weight Loss

Drug and/or alcohol abuse is a serious matter and one that the Arizona Courts take very seriously.  If you have any questions regarding the interplay between drug use and Arizona family law please do not hesitate to contact me.

Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

Jurisdiction of Arizona Courts to Modify Child Support

Recently, the Arizona Appellate Court handed down a decision in State v. Tazioli, 2011 WL 239547 (Ariz. App.Div. 1), addressing the question of jurisdiction in a child support modification case where the original child support order was from Arizona but now both Mother and Father are no longer residents of Arizona, and Mother refuses to consent to jurisdiction in Arizona.

The Court held that Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 25-1225, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to modify the child support order because “neither party currently resides in Arizona and Mother refuses to consent to jurisdiction in Arizona.”  

The appellate court directed the lower court to forward Father's petition to the appropriate jurisdiction.

Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

New Arizona Child Support Guidelines

The Arizona child support guidelines have been updated by increasing the child support amounts on the schedules, raising the self support reserve to $903.00 per month and adding the following language to Section 20 regarding deviations, “In cases with significant disparity of income between the custodial and noncustodial parent, a deviation may be appropriate.”

The revised Arizona child support guidelines apply to orders entered after May 31, 2011.

You can review the revised child support guidelines here:
www.azcourts.gov/Portals/22/admorder/Orders10/2010-116.pdf

Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

Recession and Divorce

Recently, the University of Virginia's National Marriage Project issued a report titled, "The Great Recession and Divorce."

The Report can be found here:
http://www.virginia.edu/marriageproject/pdfs/NMP-GreatRecession.pdf

The report contains some interesting findings such as:

1.  About 29 percent of married Americans—the same amount who agree that the recession brought financial stress to their marriage—agree that the recession has caused them to deepen their commitment to their marriage. Only 13 percent disagree with this statement, while another 58 percent neither agree nor disagree with it.

2.  The recession also appears to have staved off divorce in some instances. Among married Americans who say they were considering divorce or separation prior to the recession (about 5 percent of all respondents in the survey), 38 percent say that the recession has caused them to put aside divorce or separation.

3.  Still, the financial stresses of the recession have had a negative impact on Americans’ marital happiness. Married Americans who have been relatively unaffected by the financial downturn—those who report low levels of financial worry, no trouble paying their mortgage, and no employment setbacks—are the most likely to report having a very happy marriage (43 percent). Those who have experienced one stressor do not lag far behind these other Americans in marital happiness—39 percent report a very happy marriage. But those with two or three financial stressors are far less likely to report a happy marriage: just over one quarter of these Americans (27 percent).

There is no doubt that financial stress plays a factor in the both the happiness of a marriage and the subsequent divorce rate.

Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

Parents Who Attempt to Increase Parenting Time to Decrease Child Support

In many parenting time and child support modification cases I am involved with, it appears that the motive of a party in requesting additional parenting time is to reduce their child support obligation (as opposed to gaining meaningful time with their children).

The rationale as they see it is that the more parenting time they are awarded the less child support they will have to pay, and thus they will be better off financially.

However, the moving party rarely ends up in a better financial situation.  This is because the Arizona Child Support Guidelines were created to compensate a parent for the costs involved of providing for the needs of their children when they are in his or her care.

For example, let's say as part of a divorce Mother was awarded primary custody of the parties' two children and Father was given parenting time of one overnight a week and every other weekend (104 days of parenting time) .  Let's further assume that Father was ordered to pay child support of $800.00 per month pursuant to the Arizona Child Support Guidelines.

Let's now assume that Father files to modify the parenting time award requesting that he be awarded every weekend in addition to one overnight a week (160 days of parenting time).  If he prevails on his request, the monthly child support award would be reduced to approximately $475.00.  Therefore, Father's yearly child support amount would be reduced by $3,900.00. 

However, Father now has to provide for the children's daily needs such as food, entertainment, etc. for an additional 56 days per year.  Although the additional cost to do so may be somewhat less than the savings realized by Father, it won't be by much.  Once you figure in the legal fees incurred by Father to get the reduction, he would end up in the negative.

When deciding establishment and modification of parenting time cases, the Court looks solely at what is in the best interests of the children.  If the Court suspects that one party's position is motivated solely by child support purposes as opposed to wanting to spend quality time with their children, then that party can expect an unfavorable result.  


Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com

Getting an Emergency Order in Family Law Cases

Lately I have been inundated with client's who are in need of emergency orders in their family law cases.

Most of them have stemmed from alcohol and/or drug abuse by the other parent and the obvious concerns regarding that parent's fitness to have unfettered parenting time with a minor child.  

In order to get an emergency order, it must be demonstrated to the Court that an irreparable harm will occur to the children if an emergency order is not issued.  A parent suspected of being addicted to drugs and/or alcohol will almost always meet this burden.

The process of getting an emergency order however is timely and thus costly.  First, a verified motion must be drafted.  Secondly, the attorney must go down to the Court and file the motion (as opposed to having his daily runner do it) and then walk it to the assigned Judge.  It typically takes anywhere from an hour to 3 hours of waiting by the attorney for the Judge to make a ruling and/or make time to have the attorney appear in the courtroom and further explain the situation.

If the Judge grants the motion, an Order will be issued along with a date for an evidentiary hearing.  The Order along with the original motion need to then get served on the other party.  Both parties will then have to appear at the evidentiary hearing so that the Court can hear both sides of the argument.


Jason Pistiner, Esq.
SINGER PISTINER, P.C.
602-264-0110
jp@singerpistiner.com
www.singerpistiner.com