HB 2255 Arizona House · 57th Legislature - First Regular Session

domestic relations; court appointments; fees

HB 2255 updates Arizona's child custody law to improve professional standards in family court proceedings. The bill requires court-appointed evaluators and investigators to complete specific training in domestic violence and child abuse (6 hours initially, 4 hours every two years) and prohibits courts from ordering psychiatric evaluations of parents without evidence of high risk to the child. It also mandates that courts cover all fees for these professionals instead of charging parents, reducing financial burdens in custody cases. This applies directly to Arizona family courts handling custody, parenting time, and legal decision-making disputes.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 23, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → House Engrossed Version · 4 edits · Feb 19, 2025

MODERATE

This bill significantly restructures how Arizona courts handle child custody evaluations and expert testimony. It replaces general provisions with specific requirements for when experts can testify, clarifies the types of expertise needed for different testimony categories, and adds new language about adhering to professional standards. The bill also appears to have some formatting inconsistencies and text duplication issues in the engrossed version.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on legal decision-making and parenting time proceedings, but the criteria for when expert testimony is permitted has become more specific and restrictive.

REQUIREMENT

Replaced general expert advice provisions with specific requirements that experts must have specialized expertise in child development or clinical experience with children in therapeutic settings to testify on parenting time and legal decision-making.

Added new requirement that expert testimony must be supported by professional canons and adhere to guidelines from professional licensing boards.

DEFINITION

Changed section 25-406 title from 'Investigations and reports' to 'Evaluations; experts' and modified subsection F to include both investigators and experts.

TECHNICAL

Text appears to have formatting inconsistencies and some duplicated or mixed language between original and new sections, particularly in subsections F and G of section 25-406.

Floor votes · House Feb 19, 2025

How they voted

35–24

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 60

Feb 19, 2025

D Democratic27

2 Yea 24 Nay 1

88% Nay

R Republican33

33 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

PASSED

lower

Feb 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

DPA

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

DPA

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor