What are my rights as a parent in a custody dispute?

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Based on the Arizona sources provided, here are your key rights in a custody (legal decision-making/parenting time) dispute. Note that sources , , and  address Department of Child Safety investigations and dependency proceedings, not private custody disputes between parents, so they are not covered here.

Fundamental parental rights
- Arizona law recognizes the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their children as a fundamental right, and the government may not infringe on it without a compelling interest of the highest order that is narrowly tailored .

Best-interests standard
- The court decides legal decision-making and parenting time according to the best interests of the child, considering factors such as your relationship with the child, the child's adjustment to home/school/community, the child's wishes (if of suitable age and maturity), each parent's mental and physical health, and which parent is more likely to allow frequent, meaningful contact with the other parent .
- In a contested case, the court must make specific findings on the record about all relevant factors and why its decision serves the child's best interests .

Access to information
- Each parent is entitled to access the child's prescription medication, documents, and other information about the child, unless the court finds access would seriously endanger the child's or a parent's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health .

Relocation protections
- If you share joint legal decision-making or parenting time and both live in Arizona, the other parent must give you at least 45 days' advance written notice before relocating the child out of state or more than 100 miles within the state .
- You may petition the court to prevent the relocation within 30 days after notice is made; after that, a petition may be granted only on a showing of good cause .
- The parent seeking to relocate bears the burden of proving the move is in the child's best interests .

Domestic violence protections
- Joint legal decision-making cannot be awarded if the court finds significant domestic violence or a significant history of it, and a parent found to have committed domestic violence faces a rebuttable presumption that awarding them decision-making authority is contrary to the child's best interests .
- If domestic violence is found, the offending parent bears the burden of proving parenting time will not endanger the child, and the court may impose conditions such as supervised parenting time, protected exchanges, or no overnight visits .

Enforcement of your parenting time
- If the other parent refuses without good cause to comply with a parenting time order, you may file a verified petition, and the court must hold a hearing or conference within 25 days of service and may find the violating parent in contempt, order make-up parenting time, order education or counseling at the violator's expense, impose civil penalties up to $100 per violation, or order mediation .
- Court costs and attorney fees you incur in the noncompliance review must be paid by the violating parent .

Scope note: These sources cover court-based custody disputes between parents; they do not address every aspect of custody law (for example, procedures for initially filing a petition or modifying an existing order beyond the best-interests standard), so for guidance on your specific situation, consult a licensed Arizona family law attorney.