Arizona Civil Court Records

In Arizona, there are three different kinds of courts based on how much power they have. A court's jurisdiction determines what civil matters it may hear in Arizona. And these are the General jurisdiction, the Appellate jurisdiction, and the Limited jurisdiction.

The court with general jurisdiction in Arizona is the Superior Court. It is a trial court for the whole state and hears several cases, such as civil and family cases.

Courts with limited jurisdiction can only hear and decide on a certain number of cases. It means that they can't hear and decide on some matters. The Justice of the Peace Courts and the Municipal Courts are the two types of courts at this level.

Arizona's appellate courts examine lower courts' rulings, and the Supreme Court and the State Court of Appeals have appellate jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals hears all Superior Court appeals except for a few rare situations.

Civil proceedings in Arizona include claims of $10,000 or less, which may consist of lawyers and be appealable to a higher court. Most of the time, Justice Courts decide civil cases in Arizona.

In most civil cases, people, businesses, corporations, or partnerships usually have legal disagreements. But you can also bring these cases In Arizona against a government entity like a state, county, or city.

The most common civil cases in the state involve disagreements about getting money to pay for injuries or damage to property, breaking a contract, or collecting a debt.

Can you obtain Arizona Civil Court Records? The Arizona Public Record Law is a 1901 statute passed to make public civil court records accessible. Thus, interested parties can request and get copies of these documents.

In Arizona, bankruptcy cases are legal proceedings that help people, businesses, corporations, and families become debt-free.

To file for bankruptcy ( Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) in Arizona, you can send your papers to the courthouse by mail or go to one of the division offices of the Arizona Bankruptcy Court. They are in the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma.

The U.S Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona makes court files with detailed information about the people and businesses filing for bankruptcy. It also records everything between the debtor's petition, debt settlement, and case dismissal.

The person who petitions for bankruptcy in Arizona gives personal information when they file their claim. This information is necessary for the bankruptcy court to validate the debtor's identification and claim. So, most of the time, Arizona Bankruptcy Records have the following:

• Names of the debtor (personal and business names) and any alternatives
• Home and business addresses of the debtor
• Gender and birthdate of the debtor
• Profession or business type of the debtor

When filing a petition, a debtor must also give accurate information about their finances. It lets the court decide what is best for the debtor and the creditors in terms of money. This document becomes part of the debtor's bankruptcy record.

Since they are public documents, you can get bankruptcy records from the state's bankruptcy courts. However, federal laws forbid you from seeing some information from the sealed bankruptcy court filing documents.

A property lien in Arizona is a claim of debt. It demonstrates that a creditor can seize their property if a debtor breaches a contract. This lien allows creditors to sell real property to pay off debt, generally via foreclosure.

Lenders in Arizona take properties and other assets as security for loans. Creditors can put a lien on a borrower's assets with or without permission. It is a voluntary lien if the borrower approves a lien on an asset. If not, it is an involuntary lien.

In Arizona, a creditor can place a lien on a debtor's property in the following ways:

Tax Lien

Unpaid taxes put a tax lien on real estate in Arizona. Tax liens are often involuntary and established without the property owner's permission for personal or real property.

Judgment Lien

In Arizona, a judgment lien is an involuntary lien on property or assets. It is often required in a civil court case when a judge or jury orders one party to pay another what is due. A judgment lien guarantees the plaintiff or creditor gets paid when defendants or debtors don't pay.

Mechanic's Lien

An Arizona mechanic's lien aims to secure payment for building or improving a property. Contractors and material suppliers file this lien to collect payment for labor and other services regardless of project liquidation.

Mortgage Lien

A mortgage lien is a prevalent sort of real estate lien in Arizona. It is a voluntary and specific lien on real estate to guarantee payment to a creditor if a debtor doesn't pay their mortgage. It's a claim on a borrower's real property used as collateral or security. This lien permits the lender to sell the property if the owner fails on a loan.

UCC Lien

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) applies to every state in the U.S. These universal regulations typically govern transactions of goods and securities. The UCC lien allows a lender to establish a priority claim for a borrower's assets, assuring debt collection.

The best way to find out if a property in Arizona has a lien is to look through public records at the Arizona Secretary of State's office, the county recorder's office, or the Motor Vehicle Division.

If you want to see if there are any liens on real property in Arizona, you must first find out where the property is and who owns it. It will help you determine which recorder's office to contact and narrow your search.

Some counties, including Gila, Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal, provide websites for document searches. Also, some offices, like the Apache County Recorder, let you download a request form from their website and send it in to get copies by mail, email, or fax.

When you obtain a lien record through online searches, it typically gives you the following:

• The time, date, and number of the recording
• The debtor's name
• Name of a secured party
• Lien type
• The day when the lien expires
• Photos of unofficial documents
• Numbers for the docket, book, and pages

The duration of a lien on an Arizona property varies on the kind of lien. A mortgage lien lasts until the debtor pays or the creditor reclaims the property. A judgment lien will last ten years from its filing date, whereas a mechanics lien lasts six months.

Unpaid debt or loan defaults produce liens. To prevent a legitimate lien in Arizona, pay your obligations on time.

An Arizona Civil Driving Violation Record briefly overviews a person's driving history. This data includes civil traffic offenses, tickets, and convictions for traffic violations.

Civil driving violations in Arizona are minor offenses in the state traffic record. Some of these violations include the following:

• Tailgating
• Speeding
• Driving without a seatbelt
• Failing to give the right-of-way
• Disobeying a traffic signal
• Making illegal turns
• Going with an expired license plate
• Unauthorized parking.
• Illegal crossing of the street

When people break civil traffic laws in Arizona, law enforcement officers write them a ticket. Citations may have a detrimental effect on a person's driving record. It can lead to license suspension, cancellation, and revocation.

Also, the motorist or offender may participate in a defensive driving program to lessen the citation points or drop the ticket. The agency may not record the ticket or citation if the offender completes this course.

The Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) of the Arizona Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for creating and managing all traffic and motor vehicle records in the state.

Three-year uncertified, three-year, and five-year certified and uncertified records are types of traffic records in Arizona that you can request in person, online, or by mail.

Arizona Legal Judgment Records describe the court's decision or order in a civil dispute or criminal case under its jurisdiction. According to Arizona's Public Record Law, the Clerk of courts is the record keeper for these papers.

In civil matters, many statutes control court judgments in Arizona, and here are some of them:

Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure

These rules dictate the process for all civil lawsuits and hearings in Arizona's Superior Court.

Justice Court Rules of Civil Procedure

These rules are for civil cases in Arizona's Justice Courts. These regulations don't apply to evictions, boating actions, protection orders, or harassment injunctions in justice courts.

Superior Court Rules of Appellate Procedure

These guidelines regulate all civil appeals, except as permitted by law, brought to the Superior Court from a Municipal or Justice Court, including Injunctions Against Harassment, Orders of Protection, and other civilly sanctioned proceedings.

Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure

These rules regulate civil appeals to the State Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, as well as requests and special proceedings controlled by other regulations that incorporate them.

To obtain Arizona Legal Judgment Records, visit the Clerk's office during regular business hours. You must have the case identifying information and pay the appropriate search and copying costs to receive these Arizona civil court records.

To make the search easier, provide the case number, names of the litigants, and judgment year. You must also pay additional search costs to access the relevant record.

Small Claims Courts in Arizona are a part of the Justice Courts. They handle cases with claims of less than $3,000.

Small claims lawsuits, being unappealable, are conducted informally, without lawyers. If both parties agree, hiring lawyers is feasible.

Filing a small claims action must be in the defendant's home judicial precinct or as authorized by Title 22 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. People who want to file claims for small amounts of money can get forms from the court. They can also look at the state eFiling Information to find out how to file electronically.

You can look at Arizona Small Claims Records with the Arizona Judicial Branch case search tool, a statewide court record database. But this resource only has Arizona civil court records from 177 of Arizona's 184 courts, so people who want to use it should first check with their local courthouses or look at a list of the courts that don't have records online.

Most of the time, Arizona Small Claims Records have everything you need to know about the cases filed in the state justice of the peace courts. Unless a court order seals the records, they are available to anyone who asks for them.

Getting a divorce is called dissolution of marriage in Arizona.

Apart from ending the marriage, a divorce may determine the distribution of property and debts and whether one spouse should pay support (alimony).

At least one of the married people must have resided in Arizona for at least 90 days before they can file for a divorce in the state. When the divorce is over, the county's Superior Court is in charge of keeping and compiling these records.

When trying to get a divorce record, the type of document to ask for depends on why you want it. In most instances, Arizona Superior Court records divorce action in three forms:

Divorce Certificate

A divorce certificate is the most common proof of a divorce. People often ask for this document for a marriage certificate or to alter their driver's license or state ID name. Arizona divorce certificates show the couple's names, the divorce date, and the location.

Note that the people involved in a divorce and their lawyers can only ask for this record. Thus, it is not available to the public.

Divorce Decree

One divorced party requests a divorce decree when they want to change the terms. It lists the parties' names, the divorce's date and place, and any judgments and agreements. A divorce decree includes information on property distribution, alimony, custody, and child support.

Divorce Record

Divorced parties want a comprehensive divorce record when contesting their responsibilities in court. It has the most details of the three. They contain all transcripts and papers from the proceedings and are the case file for a divorce.

You can view most divorce case records via the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the divorce occurred.

If a divorce occurred after 1950, the Clerk of the Superior Court certainly has the documents. Many of these courts provide divorce records online, but it may be easier to request them by mail or in person from the county clerk.

If a divorce happened before 1950, the Arizona State Archives keeps some of the divorce decrees. Though the state archives office is not available to the public, you can phone or email a request form to see whether they have the desired document(s).

The term "Probate Court" in Arizona refers to any court that handles estate probate and intestate matters. It also hears many other cases that usually involve filings in conservatorship, guardianship, physical abuse, and elder fraud.

The Uniform Probate Code (UPC) governs probate proceedings in Arizona. The UPC is a set of rules and guidelines that 18 states have adopted to make probate procedures the same across the United States.

Probate processes vary in duration and complexity, but the process in Arizona is the same:

• Verifying the will
• Selecting an administrator
• Collecting the estate's assets
• Settling the debts owed by the deceased
• Distributing the remaining assets

Before 1912, Arizona County Probate Courts kept estate disposition files. But after that, the Superior Courts have been in charge of these records. The Clerk of the Superior Court keeps probate documents such as wills, administrations, claims, calendars, and case files at each county courthouse. So, the best place to start a search for probate is at the county level.

The Supreme Court's eAccess online portal lets people who want to see Superior Court records, including civil cases. The portal has information about all cases since July 1, 2010. But the Municipal and Justice Courts' court records are not on the portal.

To look for Superior Court records, you must sign up and pay the monthly subscription fee at the portal. The price of each subscription depends on how many documents you can view each month.

You can use the Arizona Judicial Branch Case Search to find information about Justice and Municipal court cases. However, some records on probate cases, mental health cases, cases with unserved orders of protection, sealed documents, and data about victims and witnesses are not available.