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How much does it cost to file for custody in Arizona?

Filing for custody in Arizona superior court costs a $149 petition fee. Arizona calls custody legal decision-making and parenting time, and a standalone petition to establish them is a domestic relations case: A.R.S. §12-284, the superior court clerk's fee statute, prices it in Class C at $149 — the class that lists the dissolution and legal separation petition, the annulment petition, and, in terms, any "domestic relations case for which a fee is not specifically prescribed." The answer side and the later life of the case are priced in the same section: a postadjudication petition in a domestic relations case is $74 in Class D, plus a $15 surcharge the statute adds to every such petition.

Arizona custody fees at a glance

The Class C list is the honest route to the number, and it is worth showing. Section 12-284(A) names the custody-adjacent filings it prices specifically — a petition for annulment, a petition for dissolution or legal separation, and the probate and guardianship petitions this site's Arizona guardianship costs page uses — and then closes the class with the catch-all for a domestic relations case for which a fee is not specifically prescribed. A petition to establish legal decision-making and parenting time between unmarried parents, or a standalone custody petition outside a dissolution, is exactly that case, so it files at $149. Where the parents are divorcing, custody is decided inside the dissolution, which is itself a Class C $149 petition — there is no second custody fee on top of it. Subsection (E) of the same section confirms the commencement structure for the named family cases: at the commencement of an action for annulment, dissolution, legal separation, maternity or paternity, the petitioner pays the initial case filing fee the schedule provides. County surcharges authorised locally can sit on top of the state classes — this page publishes the state schedule, as the Arizona pages before it did, and directs filers to the clerk's county chart for the collected total. The national comparison is on the child custody filing costs hub.

After the decree: the $74 plus $15 pattern

Custody cases are revisited more than almost any other filing, and §12-284 prices the return trips with unusual precision. A postadjudication petition in a domestic relations case — the petition to modify legal decision-making or parenting time after a decree or order exists — is a Class D subsequent filing fee of $74. Subsection (C) then adds a $15 surcharge to each filing of a postadjudication petition in a domestic relations case for which a Class D fee is charged, transmitted monthly to the domestic relations education and mediation fund under §25-413 — so the collected price of a modification petition on the state schedule is $89. Subsection (D) sends three quarters of Class D domestic relations fees to the expedited child support and parenting time fund under §25-412. The front of the case has its own second-side price: an answer, notice of appearance or initial appearance is a Class B filing at $100, while the answers to annulment and dissolution petitions are carved into Class D at $74. Enforcement and evidence run on Class E's $30 minimum clerk fee — issuance of writs including enforcement of an order or judgment, and a civil subpoena, are each $30 — and copies are $0.50 a page in Class F.

How the case runs

1. File the petition to establish legal decision-making and parenting time in superior court and pay the Class C fee $149
2. Serve the other parent as the rules require — service is arranged and priced outside §12-284
3. The other parent's answer or initial appearance carries the Class B fee $100
4. Complete any parenting education or mediation the court orders — funded in part by the surcharges above, priced by the provider where a charge applies
5. Finish with the custody order; a later modification returns as a postadjudication petition $74 + $15

What custody really costs beyond the clerk

The contested-custody budget in Arizona sits outside the fee classes: service of the petition on the other parent, mediation or conciliation services beyond what the court's programs cover, a custody evaluation or a court-appointed advisor, and attorney fees are all priced by the provider or set by court order in the case. Section 12-284 fixes none of them, so this page names them without inventing figures — the same discipline applied on this site's Arizona probate costs, California custody costs and Florida custody costs pages. What an Arizona filer can predict from the statute is the court-side spine: $149 to open, $100 for the answer side, $89 collected for a later modification petition, $30 writs and subpoenas, $0.50 a page for copies — plus any county surcharge on the clerk's local chart. The wider state picture is on the Arizona court costs guide.

Can't afford the fee?

Arizona superior courts can defer or waive clerk fees for a filer who cannot afford them: the application for deferral or waiver, made under A.R.S. §12-302's framework, asks the court to postpone or excuse the filing fee on a showing of financial hardship, and it should be filed with the petition so the case is accepted while the application is decided. A deferral is not a discount — deferred amounts can become payable later as the statute provides — so read the order the court signs. The general mechanics of fee waivers are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: A.R.S. §12-284, official text at azleg.gov, read directly — Class C $149: petition for annulment, dissolution/legal separation petition, formal testacy and appointment proceedings, petition to appoint guardian or conservator, and domestic relations case for which a fee is not specifically prescribed; Class B $100 answer, notice of appearance or initial appearance; Class D $74 postadjudication petitions in domestic relations cases and postjudgment probate; subsection (C) $15 surcharge on each Class D postadjudication domestic relations petition for the §25-413 education and mediation fund; subsection (D) Class D domestic relations fees allocated to the §25-412 fund; subsection (E) petitioner pays the initial fee at commencement of annulment, dissolution, legal separation, maternity or paternity actions; Class E $30 writs and civil subpoena; Class F copies $0.50 per page · A.R.S. §12-302 (fee deferral and waiver framework). County surcharges additional — state schedule published, county total directed to the clerk's chart. Last verified: November 2026.