Although under Arizona law there are no “defenses” to a divorce action, either party may have the matter referred to a division of the court known as the Court of Conciliation, which is designed to assist the parties in resolving their disputes.
If you would like an opportunity to save your marriage with the assistance of counseling, Dustin T. Dudley can help you to invoke the assistance of the Court of Conciliation, have the divorce case put on hold for 60 days pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-381.18(A), and have the Court require that both parties attend counseling which is provided by the Court free of charge. If, however, at the end of the 60 days, either party still wants the divorce, then the case will go forward.
You do not need your spouse’s agreement to get a divorce. As set forth in A.R.S. §25-312(3) , the court only needs to find that the marriage is irretrievably broken in order to grant the divorce. The court does not have to (and will not) find either party at fault for causing the divorce.
That said, in cases where marital misconduct may have resulted in unfair financial consequences for the other spouse, Dustin T. Dudley may be able to persuade a court to consider the marital misconduct in its determination of the equitable distribution of community assets and debts.