Arizona Family Law Rule 91: Modification and Enforcement

Rule 91 of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure is the procedure for going back to court to change or enforce a family court order after a final judgment has been entered. If your decree, custody order, or support order no longer fits your situation, or the other party is ignoring it, Rule 91 is how you reopen the case. It does not apply while a divorce or separation is still pending — temporary orders during an active case fall under Rule 47. The current version of Rule 91 took effect on January 1, 2026.¹

What Rule 91 Can Be Used For

Rule 91 is a framework. The specific procedure for your request lives in one of seven sub-rules, and knowing which one applies tells you which deadlines and standards govern your case.

Rule 91.1 — modifying spousal maintenance or child support.
Rule 91.2 — enforcing spousal maintenance or child support.
Rule 91.3 — modifying legal decision-making, parenting time, or education orders.
Rule 91.4 — relocation or preventing relocation.
Rule 91.5 — enforcing legal decision-making or parenting time, including warrants to take physical custody.
Rule 91.6 — orders that affect existing parenting orders.
Rule 91.7 — other post-judgment petitions.

Whichever sub-rule applies, you file as the “applicant.” The original petitioner and respondent labels from your divorce or custody case carry forward into every post-judgment filing.¹

Filing the Petition

You start the proceeding by filing a verified petition and paying the filing fee. In Arizona superior courts, the filing fee for a post-adjudication petition in a domestic relations case is $102.² “Verified” means you sign under oath or penalty of perjury that the facts are true, as required by Rule 14.

The petition has to include, at a minimum:

The date the judgment was entered and the court that entered it.
A copy of the judgment you want to change or enforce, either attached or incorporated by reference if it is already in the court file.
The specific sections of the judgment you are challenging, identified by page number and section.
The relief you want the court to order.¹

If the petition involves child support, spousal maintenance, or any other money issue, you also file an Affidavit of Financial Information using Form 2 under Rule 97 (or a locally approved alternative). The AFI lays out your income, expenses, assets, and debts so the judge has something concrete to work from.¹

Serving the Other Party

Filing is only the first step. After you file, you submit two copies of a proposed Order to Appear (Form 14 under Rule 97) with a file-stamped copy of the petition to the assigned judge. Once the court signs the Order to Appear, you are responsible for serving it on the other party along with the petition and any supporting affidavits.¹

Service follows the methods in Rules 40(f)(1) or 41: personal delivery, leaving the papers at the person’s home with a resident of suitable age, delivery to an authorized agent, or certified mail with restricted delivery.³ You have to make good-faith efforts to serve within 10 days of getting the signed Order to Appear back. The hard cutoffs depend on what you filed:

At least 5 days before an initial conference.
At least 20 days before a hearing on enforcement of parenting time under Rule 91.5.
At least 40 days before a hearing on a modification petition under Rules 91.1 through 91.4.¹

The responding party does not have to file a written answer. If they choose to, or if a specific sub-rule requires one, the response is due at least 3 days before the scheduled conference or hearing.¹

What the Court Does Next

The judge screens your petition first. The court either issues the Order to Appear or rejects the petition because it does not state grounds for relief. The court cannot weigh evidence or judge credibility at this stage. If the petition is rejected, you get a written explanation and 30 days to fix the problem.¹

If accepted, the court sets one of three things: an initial conference, a resolution management conference, or an evidentiary hearing. No testimony is taken at an initial conference or resolution management conference unless there is an emergency. Evidence comes at the hearing.

Three mistakes can get your petition dismissed: failing to submit the proposed Order to Appear within 30 days of filing, failing to complete service before the hearing, or failing to show up. The court can extend these deadlines for good cause, but do not count on it.¹

Modifying Child Support

Under A.R.S. § 25-503, you can modify child support only by showing a change in circumstances that is both substantial and continuing. A one-time bonus or short-term layoff usually will not qualify. Adding or losing health insurance coverage for the children can count as a substantial change on its own.⁴

If the court modifies the order, the new amount takes effect on the first day of the month after the other party was notified of the petition. The court can pick a different effective date for good cause, but never earlier than the date you filed. Support that already came due before the other party got notice cannot be reduced retroactively, so arrears from the old amount still have to be paid.⁴

Arizona uses the Child Support Guidelines, which factor in both parents’ income, the parenting time schedule, health insurance costs for the children, education expenses, and extraordinary child-related costs.⁵ In Title IV-D cases, where the state is involved in enforcement, either parent can request a review every three years without proving a substantial change.⁴

Modifying Legal Decision-Making and Parenting Time

Custody-related modifications come with extra restrictions. Under A.R.S. § 25-411, you generally cannot file a motion to modify a legal decision-making order until at least one year after the decree. The exception is a sworn showing that the child’s current environment may seriously endanger the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health. In that situation the court can hear the motion sooner.⁶

Joint legal decision-making orders have two more early-filing exceptions. A parent can petition at any time after entry of the order based on evidence that domestic violence or child abuse has occurred since the order was entered. After six months, a parent can petition based on the other parent’s failure to comply with the order.⁶

Parenting time is easier to revisit. The court can modify a parenting time order whenever the change serves the child’s best interests. The court cannot restrict a parent’s parenting time, though, unless it finds that the current arrangement seriously endangers the child’s health or well-being.⁶

Either way, your petition must spell out the facts supporting the request. The court will deny the motion unless the pleadings establish adequate cause for a hearing. Rule 91 lets (but does not require) the court to order mediation before an evidentiary hearing on legal decision-making or parenting time, depending on local rules. You cannot be forced to mediate before filing the petition.¹

Modifying Spousal Maintenance

Spousal maintenance follows the same substantial-and-continuing-change standard, under A.R.S. § 25-327. The change applies only going forward. Any maintenance that came due before the other party received notice of your petition still has to be paid in full. Property division is a different animal: the court will not reopen property provisions unless the much higher standard for reopening a judgment is met.⁷

Enforcing Orders and Contempt

When the other party is not following the order, Rule 91 is also the enforcement path. A petition that asks for a contempt remedy has to comply with Rule 91 and with Rule 92, which governs contempt proceedings.¹

For parenting time violations, A.R.S. § 25-414 tells the court what to do. If a parent refuses without good cause to comply with a parenting time order, the court must impose at least one of these remedies:

A finding of contempt of court.
Make-up parenting time to compensate for missed sessions.
Parent education or family counseling, at the violating parent’s expense.
A civil penalty of up to $100 per violation, deposited into the state’s alternative dispute resolution fund.
Mediation or other alternative dispute resolution, at the violating parent’s expense.
Any other order that promotes the child’s best interests.

The violating parent must also pay the other parent’s court costs and attorney fees from the enforcement action. The court must hold the hearing within 25 days after service of the noncompliance petition.⁸

Temporary Orders While Your Petition Is Pending

Post-judgment cases can drag on, and you may need interim relief in the meantime. Rule 91(f) allows temporary orders during a post-judgment proceeding, but they have to satisfy the same requirements as pre-decree temporary orders under Rules 47 and 47.2, or Rule 48 for emergencies.¹

A Rule 47 motion must be verified and state the legal basis and the specific relief requested. A child support request needs a completed Child Support Worksheet attached. A spousal maintenance request has to state the amount and duration. Either requires an Affidavit of Financial Information.⁹

Emergency Orders Without Notice

Rule 48 allows a temporary order without notice to the other party when waiting would cause irreparable harm. The bar is high. The motion has to show specific facts that the moving party or a minor child will suffer irreparable injury if the court does not act before the other side can be heard. You also have to certify what you did to try to notify the other party, or explain why notice should not be required.¹⁰

If granted, the order is short-lived. The court must set a hearing within 10 days, and the order expires at that hearing unless the court extends it for good cause.¹¹

Attorney Fees

Under A.R.S. § 25-324, the court can order one party to pay the other’s attorney fees in a post-judgment proceeding. The judge looks at two things: the financial resources of both parties and whether each side has taken reasonable positions.¹²

Fee shifting becomes mandatory in some cases. If the court finds a petition was not filed in good faith, was not grounded in fact or law, or was filed to harass or run up the other party’s costs, the court must award reasonable fees and costs to the other side.¹² Think carefully before filing a modification petition on thin grounds; you may end up paying the legal bill you were trying to make the other side cover. If you want fees as part of your Rule 91 petition, you have to file an Affidavit of Financial Information and provide proof of income from all sources.¹

1
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 91 – Modification or Enforcement of Judgment
2
Arizona Judicial Branch. Superior Court Filing Fees
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 41 – Service Within and Outside Arizona
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 25 – Section 25-503
5
Arizona Judicial Branch. About the Child Support Calculator
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 25 – Section 25-411
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 25-327 – Modification and Termination of Provisions for Maintenance and Support
8
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 25 – Section 25-414 – Violation of Visitation or Parenting Time Rights Penalties
9
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 47 – Motions for Temporary Orders
10
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 48 – Temporary Orders Without Notice
11
Arizona Courts. Family Law Pre-Decree Temporary Orders – Rules and Statutes Timelines
12
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 25-324 – Attorney Fees