“What is the Alec & Lydia Act all about, and how does it affect my domestic violence case in family court?”

The Alec & Lydia Act is a new law, effective Monday, June 22, 2026. Named after two young children murdered by their biological father on May 20, 2024, and championed by their mother, Hope Hooton, this transformation changes how domestic violence claims are resolved in our family courts.

With my co-author and esteemed colleague, Ms. Patricia Madsen, Managing Attorney at Community Legal Services, and supported by the unwavering dedication of Representative Lisa Fink, who sponsored House Bill 2995, we wrote this law with four, clear purposes.

First, it was necessary to call out rules and priorities that had already been Arizona law for years.

Family court stakeholders have ignored, discounted, or overlooked these existing standards out of convenience, a deep-seated dislike (or disdain) for domestic violence victims, a reckless belief that “most DV allegations are false”, or an easy-path tendency to mischaracterize domestic violence as a “high conflict” setting where “both parents” should “work harder at communication”. Some of these standards appeared explicitly even in the old law; others had been firmly established by case law from our appellate courts.

In short, the Alec & Lydia Act did, of course, introduce major, unprecedented perspectives and demands. But in some instances, it applied a fresh coat of paint.

Second, we recognized a simmering community anger over shared parenting plans handed to proven offenders who had (i) committed serious domestic violence, or (ii) inflicted a less visible but relentless undercurrent of controlling and abusive behaviors for years.

These were behaviors that, even under the old law, supposedly disqualified the offender from any part of legal decision-making or normal child access. Yet those disqualifications occurred far less frequently than they should have. Even during my years as a judge pro tempore—it was clear that the citizens who walked out of my courtroom (and did not have my legal training) cared just as much about why I decided “against” them as the outcome itself. Too many parents do not understand family law outcomes in general. But the stunned fear and resentment are especially raw in domestic violence cases.

The Act insists on meaningful explanations. We knew it would burden an already overwhelming and thankless caseload. (That problem, incidentally, deserves its own share of serious public attention.) But the status quo could not go on. Pick up any newspaper, and one sees a general public disgusted with the civil justice system and increasingly convinced—fair or not—that it is elitist and corrupt. When our legal community explains … when we take time to educate … we prove that we care about all Arizonans and value their active buy-in with the world’s oldest democracy.

That was worth a subsection, especially with lives at stake.

Third, we wanted to explicitly challenge recurring abuser strategies that have, for decades, minimized violence, distorted its cause, shifted blame, or deflected observers’ attention to irrelevant considerations.

These improper strategies are stubborn, too often successful, and purposely drain a victim’s financial or psychological resources. We did not (and still do not) expect the mere passage of the Alec & Lydia Act to stop these tactics cold. But we did want to drag them into the open and spotlight them.

Fourth, Arizona legislation to recognize coercive control as a destructive, widespread problem was badly overdue.

For too long, coercive control has been mocked by some, shrugged at, or viewed as handy material for sitcom jokes. Others have seen it but assumed it was confined to “just a few bad people”. Walk into the halls of any domestic violence nonprofit or spend time talking with (and learning from) a community advocate; one comes to understand there is nothing rare about coercive control.

It was essential to join the growing ranks of States who have led the way on coercive control legislation. Patricia and I are honored to have helped add Arizona to their select company.

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In the days to come, I will post a series of “deep dives” about specific sections of the Alec & Lydia Act. This is important, not just because such information is helpful but also because some sources have already mischaracterized what this new law changed and how it was meant to be applied.

Obviously, I encourage any reader who needs legal assistance to contact the Alongi Law Firm, schedule an appointment, and consult with our litigation team. We are deeply familiar with domestic violence intervention, family court as a whole, and representing clients on appeal. We can help you. But we also encourage informed discussion within the legal community and a growth in our collective, professional understanding.

For the sake of Alec and Lydia Mater’s memory and to respect the untold suffering of countless others whose names we never heard, I hope these future blog posts will offer more than a user’s guide. I would want the reader to see Arizona’s leap forward as a good thing.

Something to be proud of.