civics.online

Court Records

Arizona Court Records

How Arizona's courts are organized, where their records are kept and how to search them.

Arizona has a single Superior Court with a location in each of its 15 counties, plus a network of justice of the peace and city courts. Most of these courts share a statewide case lookup that is free to use, making it one of the more accessible states for basic case information.

Coverage is not complete, though. A few large courts are left out of the statewide lookup and run their own searches, and copies of the documents in a case usually cost money.

How Arizona's courts are organized

Arizona's courts form a single integrated judicial department under the Supreme Court, with general jurisdiction courts at the county level and limited jurisdiction courts in cities and justice precincts.

Arizona Supreme Court

The state's highest court. It reviews Court of Appeals decisions, hears death penalty appeals directly and supervises all Arizona courts.

Court of Appeals

Division One in Phoenix and Division Two in Tucson hear appeals from the Superior Court, along with appeals from certain state agencies.

Superior Court

The general jurisdiction trial court, with a location in every county. It hears felonies, civil cases over the justice court limit, divorces, probate, juvenile cases and appeals from limited jurisdiction courts. The Clerk of the Superior Court in each county keeps the records.

Justice and municipal courts

Justice of the peace courts handle misdemeanors, traffic, evictions, small claims and smaller civil cases. City (municipal) courts handle city ordinance violations, misdemeanors and traffic within city limits.

Searching Arizona court records online

Start with the statewide Public Access lookup. If you need the documents, use eAccess or the court's own system.

Getting records from the clerk's office

For Superior Court records, contact the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the case was filed. Clerks provide copies and certified copies for a fee and accept requests online, by mail and in person. Records from justice and city courts come from those courts directly.

Real estate documents, such as deeds, are kept by each county recorder, not the court clerk.

What is public, and what is not

Rule 123 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Arizona sets out what court records are open to the public. Most case records are open, but juvenile, adoption, mental health and grand jury records are confidential, as are sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, financial account numbers and victim contact details.

Arizona allows a person to ask a court to set aside a conviction, which does not erase it but notes the relief on the record. Since 2023, Arizona law also lets many people petition to seal their criminal case records after completing their sentence and a waiting period. Records of certain marijuana offenses can be expunged.

  • AZCourtHelp.orgArizona's court self-help site, including guidance on record sealing and setting aside a conviction.

Older and archived records

Older Superior Court case files may be kept by the county clerk on microfilm or in off-site storage. Historical court records from the territorial period and early statehood are held at the state archives.

Criminal history and background records

A court file tells you what happened in one case in one court. A criminal history record (often called a rap sheet) pulls together arrests, charges and outcomes reported from across the state, so it is a different product kept by a different agency.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety keeps the state's criminal history repository. Arizona does not sell these records to the general public; you can request your own record, and certain employers can run checks.

Federal court records in Arizona

Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Arizona's state courts. Arizona is a single federal judicial district, and each has its own clerk's office:

The federal district court has courthouses in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott and Yuma.

Federal case files are searched through PACER, the federal judiciary's records system. PACER charges a small fee per page, but you pay nothing if your charges stay under the quarterly fee-waiver threshold, court opinions are free, and every federal courthouse has public terminals you can use at no cost. Many PACER documents have also been copied into the free RECAP Archive on CourtListener. Appeals from Arizona's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Tips for a faster search

  • If a case does not appear in Public Access, check whether the court runs its own search before assuming it does not exist.
  • Many justice courts serve several precincts from one building. The precinct is based on where the incident happened or where the defendant lives.
  • Ask for a certified copy only if you need it for another court or agency; plain copies cost less.
  • Have the full names of the parties, the county and a rough date range ready. A case number is the fastest way in if you have one.
  • Online indexes are not the official record. If a decision depends on it, get a copy (or a certified copy) from the clerk's office that holds the file.

Legal help and law libraries

Clerks and law librarians can explain how to find a record, but they cannot give legal advice. These organizations can point you in the right direction:

This guide is general information about public records, not legal advice. Court websites, fees and rules change, so confirm details with the court before you rely on them. Civics-Online.org is not affiliated with any court or government agency.