Child Support Modification

ARIZONA CHILD SUPPORT MODIFICATION PREPARATION WORKSHEET

DO NOT FILE THIS WORKSHEET. Transfer verified facts to the current
Arizona Supreme Court or filing-court forms for the selected procedure. The
existing support order remains in effect unless and until the court enters a
new order.

1. Existing Order and Court-Authority Screen

Complete this gate before selecting a form:

• ☐ An Arizona tribunal issued the support order sought to be modified.
• ☐ That order is the controlling support order.

• ☐ Arizona is currently the residence of the obligor, individual obligee, or
  a child for whose benefit the order was issued.

• ☐ If none of those persons resides in Arizona, all required parties consented
  in a record or in open court to Arizona's continued authority.

• ☐ No later order from another state, country, or tribal tribunal displaced
  Arizona's order as the controlling order.

If the order was issued elsewhere, another tribunal has modified it, multiple
orders may exist, or no required person resides in Arizona, stop and complete a
current interstate-support analysis before using an Arizona modification form.
Residence alone does not establish authority to modify every support order.

2. Select the Correct Modification Procedure

2.1 Standard procedure

Use the current standard petition route when the request is based on a
substantial and continuing change and the simplified route below is not being
used. Rule 91.1(b) requires a factual statement supporting the change and, if
available, the most recent worksheet supporting the existing order.

Standard-route preparation:

• ☐ Current Rule 91 and Rule 91.1 procedure reviewed.
• ☐ Current petition and Order to Appear accepted by the filing court located.
• ☐ Affidavit of Financial Information completed.
• ☐ Proof of income from all sources assembled.
• ☐ Most recent worksheet supporting the existing order attached, if available.
• ☐ County filing, service, disclosure, and hearing requirements confirmed.

2.2 Simplified procedure

The current Guidelines allow the simplified procedure for either:

• ☐ a recalculated amount that varies by at least 15% from the existing amount;
  or

• ☐ a request to assign or change responsibility for the child's medical
  insurance, even when the resulting amount does not vary by 15%.

The 15% figure is evidence of a substantial and continuing change and a route
into the simplified procedure. It is not a universal mandatory threshold for
every Arizona child-support modification.

Simplified-route preparation:

• ☐ Current form DRMSS11F, Petition to Modify (Change) Child Support
  (Simplified Process), and current instructions located.

• ☐ Current completed and sworn Child Support Worksheet prepared.

• ☐ Documents supporting any changed income attached.

• ☐ Other party's income is documented or clearly identified as estimated,
  with the basis for the estimate stated.

• ☐ Current Child Support Order form and any locally required proposed order
  located.

3. Change Register

Identify changes after the order being modified. State dates and evidence, not
only conclusions.

If support was ordered for more than one child and the duty to support one—but
not all—of the children ended, the Guidelines state that the order is not
automatically reduced. Use the standard or simplified modification procedure
for the remaining children.

4. Current Guidelines Calculation Record

Use the current official calculator or worksheet. Calculator output is an
estimate; the court determines the ordered amount.

Attach the completed worksheet and preserve the records supporting every input.

5. Requested Modification

• ☐ Modify monthly child support to $[________], payable beginning on the
  date the court lawfully selects.

• ☐ Assign or change responsibility for medical insurance as follows:
  [____________________________________________________________].

• ☐ Address child-care, education, extraordinary expenses, or unreimbursed
  health expenses as supported by the current Guidelines and evidence:
  [____________________________________________________________].

• ☐ Enter the current form of income-withholding order or related order if the
  applicable law, existing case, and filing route require it.

• ☐ Other relief supported by current authority:
  [____________________________________________________________].

Requested effective date

• Date the petition will be filed: [__/__/____]
• Date notice is expected to be completed: [__/__/____]
• Requested effective date: [__/__/____]
• Good-cause facts for a different date, if any:
  [____________________________________________________________]

Sections 25-327(A) and 25-503(E) generally make a modification effective on the
first day of the month after notice. The court may select a different date for
good cause, but not a date earlier than filing. Do not ask this modification
worksheet to erase or retroactively alter arrears that accrued before notice.

This worksheet creates no private annual adjustment, automatic enforcement
remedy, prevailing-party fee right, indemnity, liability cap, arbitration term,
integration clause, severability clause, or electronic-signature rule.

6. Drafting Outline for the Filing

Use the caption and party designations from the existing case.

Do not add a notarized verification, jury waiver, forum-selection clause, or
contract signature block unless the current official filing form or governing
rule actually requires it.

7. Filing Packet Checklist

Every route

• ☐ Existing child-support order and all later support orders
• ☐ Current official Child Support Worksheet or calculator output
• ☐ Records supporting every income and expense input
• ☐ Current Affidavit of Financial Information when required
• ☐ Correct county, caption, case number, and party designations
• ☐ Filing fee or current fee-waiver / deferral application
• ☐ Confidential-information, protected-address, and redaction requirements
• ☐ Required notice or service on the Title IV-D agency or State, if involved
• ☐ Current local forms, filing method, and proposed-order requirements

Simplified procedure service and hearing

• ☐ Serve the request, worksheet, and supporting documentation as the current
  Guidelines require.

• ☐ File proof of service.

• ☐ Calendar the receiving party's hearing-request period: 20 days after
  in-state service or 30 days after out-of-state service.

• ☐ If a timely hearing is requested, prepare the hearing packet and current
  sworn worksheet.

• ☐ If no hearing is requested, follow the filing court's current submission
  procedure; the court may enter an appropriate order or set a hearing.

For the standard procedure, calculate service, disclosure, response, and
hearing deadlines from the current Rules 91 and 91.1, the issued Order to
Appear, and the filing court's current instructions.

8. Final Accuracy Review

• ☐ The Arizona order is controlling and the court-authority analysis is
  supported by current facts.

• ☐ The correct standard or simplified procedure was selected.

• ☐ The 15% rule is used only as the Guidelines describe it.
• ☐ Every amount matches the current worksheet and supporting records.
• ☐ The most recent prior worksheet is attached if available and required.
• ☐ The requested effective date does not precede filing.
• ☐ Accrued arrears are not treated as erased by a prospective modification.
• ☐ The filing uses current official or court-accepted forms, not this worksheet.
• ☐ Arizona counsel reviewed interstate, Title IV-D, safety, confidentiality,
  military-service, service, and local-practice issues before filing.

Official Sources and Forms

• A.R.S. § 25-327
• A.R.S. § 25-503
• A.R.S. § 25-1225
• Arizona Child Support Guidelines, Administrative Order No. 2022-116
• Arizona Judicial Branch child-support modification forms
• Arizona Judicial Branch child-support calculator information
• Ariz. R. Fam. Law P. 91.1