In the fall of 2024, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) mailed letters to parents who once had an open dependency and/or severance case.
Did you receive a letter? Visit the DCS letter page for more information.
Family Law
Glossaries
| Term | Main definition |
|---|---|
| Initial Appearance | The first appearance by a party in a criminal case. |
| Initiating Jurisdiction | A county, district or state in which a legal action is initiated. Used most often in reference to interstate cases. |
| Injunction | An order of the court directing a person not to do certain things. For example an injunction in a dissolution case orders the spouses not to sell any of the community property. |
| Insolvency | Inability or lack of means to pay debts. |
| Intercept | Seizure of federal or state tax refund of the obligator, or lottery winnings for application to a child support obligation. |
| Interest on Support Arrearage | The annual rate of interest on support arrearages in Arizona is 10%. |
| Interrogatories | Written questions of one person, which are served on the other person, who must answer by written replies under oath. |
| Interstate | A case which involves two or more states. |
| Intrastate | A case which involves two or more courts within a state. |
| Irretrievably Broken | The standard used in Arizona by the court to decide if a divorce should be granted. It means that there is no reasonable chance that the spouses will agree to stay married. |
| IV-A | Title IV-A of the federal Social Security Act is that portion of the federal law covering the public assistance program. |
| IV-A Referral | The notice (now automatically provided through computer interface) provided to IV-D by IV-A when an applicant/recipient is determined to be eligible for public assistance benefits. |
| IV-D | "Four D" refers to the title in the federal Social Security Act under which the Office of Child Support is reimbursed for providing service to persons who receive public assistance or who otherwise apply for their services. |
| IV-D Agency | The entity responsible to administer the State Plan under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, which in Arizona is the Department of Economic Security. |
| IV-D Non-TANF Case | A case managed by the IV-D agency in which no public assistance benefits are being paid for the child involved. (Application must be made in writing.) |
| IV-D TANF Case | A case managed by the IV-D agency in which public assistance benefits are being paid for the child involved. (Automatically referred to IV-D from IV-A when benefits paid.) |
| IV-E | Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act which provides for foster care maintenance payments for children who are IV-A eligible. |
| Joint Legal Decision Making | Means both parents share decision making and the rights or responsibilities of either parent are superior except with respect to specified decisions as set forth by the court or the parents in the final judgment or order. |
| Judge | The official who is dealing with a given case on a given day. |
| Judge Pro Tempore | A person assigned to perform the duties of a judge on a temporary basis. |