A. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, this article applies to all proceedings under this chapter.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 25-1241

  • Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision of a country, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and to which any of the following applies:

    (a) It has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202

  • Initiating tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Petition: includes a complaint. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
  • Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or a foreign country. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Arizona Laws 25-1202
  • Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity or private agency authorized to do any of the following:

    (a) Seek the enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. See Arizona Laws 25-1202

  • Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Arizona Laws 25-1202

B. An individual petitioner or a support enforcement agency may initiate a proceeding authorized under this chapter by filing a petition in an initiating tribunal for forwarding to a responding tribunal or by filing a petition or a comparable pleading directly in a tribunal of another state or a foreign country that has or can obtain personal jurisdiction over the respondent.