An Arizona motion for contempt is actually filed on a form titled Petition for Order to Show Cause Regarding Contempt, and it is how you ask a family court judge to enforce a decree or order your ex-spouse or co-parent is ignoring. You file the petition with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where your case lives, pay a $102 postadjudication filing fee, serve the signed papers on the other party, and then prove at a hearing that the violation was willful. The judge can order payment, set purge conditions, award your attorney fees, or, as a last resort, order jail time until the other party complies.
What to Gather Before You Draft
Pull these together first. Working from a blank petition without them wastes time and produces vague counts a judge may send back.
- Your case number and a clean copy of the signed order being violated. You will cite specific numbered paragraphs from it.
- The signing date of that order.
- For unpaid child support or spousal maintenance, the 12-digit ATLAS number assigned by Arizona’s State Disbursement Unit. Your county’s support department can look it up if you don’t have it.1Arizona Judicial Branch. Child Support Calculator Help
- A dated breakdown of every missed or short payment, or for parenting-time violations, a list of each date the other party failed to follow the schedule and which paragraph of the order controls it.
- Evidence organized for the hearing: texts, emails, bank records, payment history, calendar entries. You don’t attach these to the petition, but you need them ready.
You also need the two forms themselves: the Petition for Order to Show Cause Regarding Contempt and the companion Order to Appear. Counties publish their own packets. Maricopa County labels its Order to Appear DROA12f and bundles step-by-step instructions. Other counties distribute similar packets through the clerk’s office or self-service center, and AZ Court Help links to county-specific sets for support and property-division enforcement.2AZ Court Help. How to Get a Parent to Comply with the Divorce Decree in Arizona
How to Write the Petition
The petition is organized into separate counts, and each count does three things: it names one paragraph of the existing order, states what the other party was required to do under that paragraph, and describes exactly what they did or failed to do instead. If your ex missed three holiday exchanges and also stopped paying their share of medical insurance, that is four counts, not one.
Write the facts concretely. “Respondent did not return the children at 6:00 p.m. on December 26, 2025, as required by paragraph 7(c) of the decree” is what a judge can act on. A general complaint about holiday behavior is not.
Rule 92 of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure governs contempt petitions and requires that the filing “recite the essential facts alleged to be contemptuous,” along with meeting Rule 91’s general post-judgment requirements.3New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 92 County form packets usually walk you through this structure. If you draft anything freehand, every count must point to a specific paragraph in the order and state facts showing the violation was deliberate.
Filing Fee and Fee Waiver
Submit the original petition plus copies for the judge and for service on the other party. The postadjudication filing fee in a domestic-relations case is $102 statewide.4Arizona Judicial Branch. Superior Court Filing Fees
If you cannot afford it, file an Application for Deferral or Waiver of Court Fees and Costs (Form AOCDFGF1F) with the petition. A deferral either sets up a payment plan or postpones payment to a later date. If you receive TANF or food stamp benefits, or you are represented by a nonprofit legal aid provider with documentation, the court should grant a deferral. For income between 150% and 225% of the federal poverty level, the court may set up a payment plan.5Arizona Judicial Branch. Fee Waiver and Deferral
Serving the Signed Papers
Once filed, the petition goes to the assigned judge’s chambers for a signature on the Order to Appear, which sets the hearing date and time. When the signed order comes back, both the petition and the signed Order to Appear must reach the other party through a legally valid method.
Rule 92 requires personal service under Rule 41 of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure.3New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 92 Rule 41 lets you serve an individual by delivering the documents directly to the person, leaving copies at the person’s home with someone of suitable age who lives there, or delivering copies to an authorized agent.6New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 41 You cannot hand-deliver the papers yourself. Most filers hire a registered private process server or use the sheriff. The other party can also sign an Acceptance of Service form in front of a notary or the court clerk, which counts as valid service.7Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. How to Serve Notice to Enforce an Order in a Family Case Private process servers in Arizona typically charge between $40 and several hundred dollars depending on how hard the other party is to locate.
File proof of service with the court after it’s done. Without it, the judge has no confirmation of notice and the hearing cannot go forward.
What Happens at the Hearing
The hearing turns on one question: did the other party willfully refuse to follow the order? Civil contempt requires proof by clear and convincing evidence, which is a higher bar than the “more likely than not” standard used in most civil cases. You need to show the order existed, the other party knew about it, and they violated it anyway.
Bring organized copies of the original court order, your petition, payment or bank records, messages where the other party acknowledged or ignored the obligation, and your calendar or log of missed parenting time. Witnesses who saw relevant events can testify. The respondent’s most common defense is inability to comply, so come ready to show the person had the means or opportunity and chose not to act.
Burden of Proof
You carry the initial burden of proving the violation. Once you establish the order existed and was broken, the burden typically shifts to the respondent to show they could not comply despite genuine effort. Someone who lost a job six months ago and has been actively looking is in a different position than someone who still earns enough and simply stopped paying.
Possible Outcomes
If the judge finds contempt, Rule 92 and A.R.S. § 12-864 give the court broad discretion to craft remedies that force compliance.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-864 The common ones:
- A purge order directing the contemnor to pay a set amount or complete the missed obligation to clear the contempt. The purge conditions must match what the person can actually do now, and the court must make a separate finding on the record of that present ability.3New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 92
- An award of your attorney fees and costs under Rule 92.
- Restructured payment schedules or an income-withholding order sent to the contemnor’s employer in support cases.
- Incarceration, as a last resort to coerce compliance rather than to punish. The contemnor is released once purge conditions are met.
If the Other Party Still Doesn’t Comply
When the judge finds contempt, sets purge conditions, and gives the other party time to satisfy them, the clock starts. If the deadline passes without compliance, file an affidavit of noncompliance with the court. The judge may then issue a civil arrest warrant or, in support cases, a child support arrest warrant.3New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure Rule 92 Once arrested, the person must be brought before the court within 24 hours so the judge can revisit the ability to comply. The “keys to the jail” principle applies throughout: the contemnor can end any incarceration by satisfying the purge.
Other Enforcement Tools for Support Cases
Contempt is not the only way to collect unpaid support. Under A.R.S. § 25-508, a support order can be enforced through liens, garnishment, attachment of property, or appointment of a receiver, which is the same set of remedies available for any civil judgment.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-508 To use these tools you file an affidavit showing all payments in default along with a copy of the support order. Many petitioners pursue garnishment or a lien alongside the contempt petition rather than instead of it.
Boundaries Worth Knowing
If the respondent threatens to wipe out what they owe by filing bankruptcy, it won’t work for support debt. Federal law defines a “domestic support obligation” broadly to cover any debt in the nature of support owed to a spouse, former spouse, or child, whether set by a separation agreement, divorce decree, or court order.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 101 Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5), those obligations are excepted from discharge.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 The contempt proceeding and the underlying support debt both survive the bankruptcy.
If the respondent is on active military duty, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act can delay the hearing. Under 50 U.S.C. § 3932, the court must grant a stay of at least 90 days when the servicemember shows current duties materially affect their ability to appear and provides a letter from the commanding officer confirming military leave is not authorized.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3932 The protection runs for 90 days after release from active duty. Additional stays past the initial 90 days are discretionary; if the court denies one, it must appoint counsel for the servicemember. Filing a stay request doesn’t count as an appearance, so the servicemember keeps any jurisdictional defenses. Your contempt claim isn’t erased by a stay. It waits.