Vol. 9, No. 3 March 2013
Fee Increase Reminder
The Arizona Judicial Council approved a fee increase of approximately five percent for most filings and services, effective March 18, 2013. Base filing fees and charges are set by Arizona Revised Statute 12-284. The statute allows the Judicial Branch to increase fees, limited by the average consumer price index. The Board of Supervisors in each county has authority to assess additional fees based on the cost and type of services provided or required in each county. The Clerk’s Office has posted the fees for filings and services in the Superior Court in Maricopa County online at http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/fees.asp.
Adobe Digital Signatures
The originator of a PDF document has an option to include an Adobe digital signature, which is recognized by Adobe Reader and Adobe Professional. Anyone using the Clerk’s ECR Online to view a PDF document that contains an Adobe digital signature will see one of several messages dealing with digital signatures, depending on how Adobe preferences are set on the individual’s computer. Examples of the messages are: “At least one signature has problems,” “At least one signature requires validating,” and “At least one signature is invalid.” These messages result from the way digital signatures work, requiring the reader of the document to “trust” the signer before the message will disappear.
The Clerk’s eFiling and review system currently processes these filings without issue, regardless of whether the filing was submitted through AZTurboCourt (civil) or through the Clerk’s eFiling Online website (criminal, tax, and family). However, when viewing these documents through the Clerk’s ECR Online, individuals using an Adobe Reader, and possibly non-Adobe PDF Viewers, will see one of the warning/error messages listed above, making it appear there is something wrong with the underlying document.
The Clerk’s Office discourages use of an Adobe digital signature on PDF documents filed in Superior Court. In addition to the warning messages that are created by using this signature format as stated above, remember that documents submitted for filing in either MS Word or PDF must be signed using the “/s/” convention as prescribed in Arizona Supreme Court Administrative Order 2011-140, Section (5)(a)(i), and in the eFiling Guidelines posted on the Clerk’s website.
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