{"id":1845,"date":"2026-06-11T05:33:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1845"},"modified":"2026-06-11T05:33:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:33:49","slug":"mothers-heartbreak-fuels-push-to-overhaul-arizona-custody-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1845","title":{"rendered":"Mother\u2019s heartbreak fuels push to overhaul Arizona custody law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A bill moving forward at the Arizona State Capitol would require judges to prioritize domestic violence in custody cases.<\/p>\n

Read more Deer Valley school board member responds after meeting erupts into shouting, cut mic over Nazi salute<\/a><\/p>\n

The legislation comes after a mother\u2019s children were killed while their father had court-ordered custody.<\/p>\n

Hope Hooton\u2019s children, Alec and Lydia, were gunned down by their father in 2024. He then took his own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is really to make sure that what happened to my family doesn\u2019t happen to any other Arizona family,\u201d Hooton said.<\/p>\n

Hooton now wears a memorial tattoo on her right arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlec loved Pikachu and Pokemon. Pikachu was his favorite. And Lydia, my daughter, loved unicorns,\u201d Hooton said. \u201cThe stars represent the phrase they use to tell me, which was, \u2018I love you to the last planet and back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill would create mandatory presumption against abusive parents<\/h2>\n

, nicknamed the \u201cAlec and Lydia Act,\u201d would overhaul how judges handle custody when there is domestic violence. The bill would force judges to put a child\u2019s safety first when making custody decisions over a parent\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hopeful the bill will pass and protect Arizona children,\u201d Hooton said.<\/p>\n

, if a court determines a parent has committed domestic violence, judges would have to assume that giving custody or parenting time to that parent is not in the child\u2019s best interests. The abusive parent would then have to prove otherwise.<\/p>\n

To get any custody or unsupervised visits, that parent would need to meet a high legal standard with clear evidence. Even for supervised visits, the parent would need to prove the child would be safe.<\/p>\n

Judges currently have discretion in custody cases. The bill would require courts to assign the highest priority to the personal safety and physical, mental and emotional well-being of both the child and the victim of domestic violence.<\/p>\n

Bill would expand definition of domestic violence<\/h2>\n

The legislation would define domestic violence to include coercive control, described as a pattern of violent, threatening, coercive or emotionally abusive conduct. <\/p>\n

The bill lists 15 specific behaviors that could constitute coercive control, including threatening to kill or injure a person, monitoring financial activity, stalking, harassment and using surveillance or tracking technology.<\/p>\n

Read more WATCH: Glendale police track down fleeing suspect who stole elderly woman\u2019s purse<\/a><\/p>\n

The bill would allow courts to consider evidence from law enforcement agencies, the Department of Child Safety, medical records, shelter records and witness testimony. A domestic violence claim would be established by a preponderance of the evidence, and corroboration from exhibits or witness testimony of another person would not be required.<\/p>\n

The bill would prohibit courts from requiring victims to prove the domestic violence was severe or frequent enough to justify restricting custody or parenting time.<\/p>\n

Courts could impose protective measures<\/h2>\n

For a parent who has committed domestic violence, the bill would allow courts to adopt precautions including requiring child exchanges in protected locations, limiting parenting time, designating supervised visits, requiring the abusive parent to pay supervision costs, suspending access to the child, requiring the parent to attend domestic violence treatment programs and keeping the child\u2019s address confidential.<\/p>\n

The bill would prohibit courts from ordering a victim of domestic violence to join the parent who committed domestic violence in any treatment program, counseling program or forensic assessment.<\/p>\n

In Hooton\u2019s case, the children\u2019s father had a history of domestic violence and had joint unsupervised custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear these cases happening over and over again, I have to step up and do something because I feel like it\u2019s my responsibility now to keep their legacy alive by doing this,\u201d Hooton said.<\/p>\n

Hooton helped craft the legislation and is now at the State Capitol fighting for its passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure that this doesn\u2019t happen to any other family and that my children\u2019s legacy will stay alive,\u201d Hooten said.<\/p>\n

For resources for those experiencing domestic violence, click or tap here.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Canada seeks to ban social media accounts for children under 16, joining growing global effort<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After an Arizona mother lost her children during court-ordered custody, she is fighting to change the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMother\u2019s heartbreak fuels push to overhaul Arizona custody law - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1845\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mother\u2019s heartbreak fuels push to overhaul Arizona custody law - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After an Arizona mother lost her children during court-ordered custody, she is fighting to change the law.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1845\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T05:33:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Mother\u2019s heartbreak fuels push to overhaul Arizona custody law\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T05:33:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845\"},\"wordCount\":729,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/6b0f5db1a72b3b1606e34ec343196db0.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=1845\",\"name\":\"Mother\u2019s heartbreak fuels push to overhaul Arizona custody law - 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