Kristen Chapman

The applicant, Scott Henderson, brought a motion seeking a temporary order to fix monthly arrears payments at $3907.10 USD, pending the adjudication of his motion to vary a 2009 final support order.

The respondent, Suzanne Henderson, opposed the motion, arguing it was premature and that Arizona authorities had jurisdiction over arrears enforcement.

The court dismissed the applicant's motion, finding it improper as it sought to amend a final order without a live Motion to Change, and premature as there was no active application to vary the original order.

The court clarified that the proper remedy was a Motion to Change and noted that Arizona authorities, under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, were empowered to set the monthly amount to be deducted for arrears.

This is a preliminary motion ruling on appeals of Compliance Audit Committee decisions to order compliance audits of election campaign finances.

The appellants sought to have the appeals conducted as hearings de novo, while the respondents and the Committee argued the appeals should be limited to a review of the record.

The court determined that absent a clear statutory mandate to the contrary, appeals must take the form of a review of the record rather than de novo hearings.

The court rejected arguments that deficiencies in the record, the Committee's failure to provide reasons, or the prematurity of the audit application warranted a de novo hearing format.