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One spouse, called the petitioner, files a document called a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (along with several other documents) with the Clerk of the Court in his or her county of residence. The other spouse, called the respondent, is then served with the petition and other documents. If the respondent does not agree with what the petitioner is requesting in the petition, the respondent must file a response no later than 20 days (30 days if served out of state) after he or she was served with the documents.

If a divorce is contested, it means that the petitioner and respondent do not agree on some aspect of the case, and the respondent has filed a response to contest it. Some examples of issues that must be resolved prior to the court granting a divorce are child custody, child support, spousal maintenance, division of property and debts. If an agreement cannot be reached by both parties, the case will go to a trial before a judge who will render a decision on the unresolved issues. In Arizona there are no juries in a divorce case.

Conciliation services is a separate division of the court made up of trained family counselors and mediators that are available to people going through a divorce or other family disputes to assist in resolving those disputes without the necessity of a trial. Conciliation services are offered free to the public.

Child support is determined by a set standard and formula adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court. The amount of support is determined by adding together the monthly gross income for each party. From that number, a basic support amount is determined from the guidelines. The basic support amount is then affected by such things as medical insurance for the child, child care, educational costs, the age of the child, and support of other children.

In Arizona, the law acknowledges that marriages are essentially partnerships and even though one party may not have worked outside the home, the law presumes that this spouse still contributed equally to the marriage in other ways. The other ways a spouse may have contributed to the marriage, include but are not limited to, child rearing, managing the household, and providing physical and emotional support to the wager earner.