New Arizona law limits custody for domestic abusers

PHOENIX — A new state law is designed to make it difficult, if not impossible, for those who commit domestic violence to get custody of their children — or even have unsupervised visits.

The law also expands what is considered domestic violence to include someone exercising “coercive control” over the other, a form of abuse that can involve controlling a partner’s finances, movements, relationships, and daily activities.

The changes to state law can all be traced to Hope Hooton, a Surprise woman whose ex-husband killed their two children during one of those visits and then killed himself.

Arizona already has laws directing judges to consider the best interests of children when making decisions about custody, visitation and parental decision-making after a divorce. But Glendale Republican Rep. Lisa Fink said the previous law left too much room for interpretation.

Under prior law, judges were required to determine if there was “significant domestic violence” when making those decisions.  

“What is ‘significant domestic violence?'” Fink said. “Is two black eyes significant when one black eye is not?”

The new law removes that word “significant” and makes several other major changes to the laws governing family court.

It keeps the requirement in place that judges make custody and visitation decisions in the child’s best interests. But it adds a presumption that any history of domestic violence by one parent against another is not in the child’s best interests. 

Judges also are required to consider evidence from various sources, including law enforcement, medical records, witness testimony and records from domestic violence shelters. And once a judge determines that domestic violence has occurred, it cannot require the victim to prove that the abuse was “severe or frequent” enough to justify restricting the offender’s decision-making authority or parenting time.

A parent who committed domestic violence also cannot get unsupervised — or, even in some cases, supervised — parenting time unless that person presents “clear and convincing evidence”  that such restrictions are unnecessary.

During hearings on the measure, Hooton detailed for lawmakers the mental and physical violence she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband, including being strangled and stabbed in her leg. 

“He controlled our finances, what I ate, and how I exercised,” she testified. “He called me degrading names and threw objects at me.”

Hooton said the abuse was initially not directed at her children. That changed in 2024 when her ex, Brock Mater, had the children for an unsupervised visit. Mater shot and killed 7-year-old Alec and 4-year-old Lydia before taking his own life. 

 Fink said Thursday that the facts of that case inspired the new law.

“That’s something that we have seen over and over again: When there has been domestic violence, it does put the children at risk,” she said.

Hooton told lawmakers that after she filed for divorce, she obtained an order of protection against her husband — an order that did not include Alec and Lydia.

“The court did not fully evaluate strangulation, coercive control, suicidal or filicidal ideation, and acute psychiatric instability before granting unsupervised parenting time,” she said. And that, Hooton said, simply reflected the law at the time as interpreted by judges.

“In family court, mothers are often told, ‘He was abusive to you, not the children,’ ” she said. “This bill recognizes that the research already tells us that abuse of a mother is a warning sign of danger to the children.”

Though the law — dubbed the Alec and Lydia Act — took effect in June, Gov. Katie Hobbs held a ceremonial bill signing on Thursday.