5 Documents You Need to File for Divorce in Arizona
Key Takeaways
- Arizona divorce requires five core documents: Petition, Summons, Preliminary Injunction, Sensitive Data Cover Sheet, and the AFI.
- The Affidavit of Financial Information (AFI) is the most detailed form — both spouses must complete it under oath.
- If you reach a full agreement, a Consent Decree finalizes everything without a contested hearing.
- Families with children need additional forms: a Parenting Plan and child support worksheets.
- Missing a required document or leaving a field blank will get your filing rejected and restart your wait.
Filing for divorce in Arizona does not require a lawyer, but it does require paperwork. Specific paperwork, filed correctly, in the right order. Get it right and your case moves forward smoothly. Miss a form or make an error and the court clerk sends everything back to you.
Here are the five documents every Arizona divorce requires, plus the additional ones that apply depending on your situation.
1. Petition for Dissolution of Marriage
The Petition is the document that officially asks the Arizona court to end your marriage. The spouse who files it is called the petitioner; the other spouse is the respondent.
The form covers:
- Your names, the county where you are filing, and the date you married
- Whether you have minor children together
- What you are requesting (property division, spousal maintenance, custody)
- The grounds for divorce, which in Arizona is simply that the marriage is "irretrievably broken"
Arizona is a no-fault state, which means you do not have to prove wrongdoing to get divorced. Stating that the marriage is irretrievably broken is enough. You file the Petition with your county Superior Court and pay the filing fee at that time. In Maricopa County, the fee is $376.
2. Summons
The Summons is a formal notice telling your spouse that a divorce case has been filed and that they have a limited window to respond. In Arizona, that window is 20 days for a spouse living in-state and 30 days for one living out of state.
You file the Summons along with the Petition, but you do not deliver it yourself. Arizona law requires a third party to serve these documents on your spouse, either a licensed process server, the county sheriff, or your spouse signing a voluntary Acceptance of Service. Handing them over yourself does not count.
If your spouse does not respond within the deadline, you can file for a default judgment and proceed without their participation.
3. Preliminary Injunction
This document goes into effect automatically the moment your divorce is filed. It is a mutual court order preventing both spouses from taking certain actions while the case is pending:
- Selling, transferring, or hiding marital assets
- Canceling health, auto, or life insurance
- Making major financial decisions that could harm the other spouse
- Taking children out of state without consent