In the fall of 2024, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) mailed letters to parents who once had an open dependency and/or severance case.
Did you receive a letter? Visit the DCS letter page for more information.
Electronic Filing in the Court of Appeals Division One
The following is information on how to properly e-file in the Arizona Court of Appeals Division One: Bookmarks, Conversions, Scanning, Links and Hyperlinks.
Make Your Text Searchable
Documents need to be submitted in one of the following formats:
- Adobe Acrobat Text Searchable (.PDF)
- Microsoft Word, post 2007 (.DOCX)
- OpenDocument word processing (.ODT)
Bookmarking Your Brief
Bookmarks should be included in the table of contents of the briefs and appendices that link to specific pages within the document. Linked references should be made to headings, title pages, etc... within the document.
Online Resources:
wikiHow - 5 Ways to Add a Bookmark in Microsoft Word
Microsoft - Add or Delete Bookmarks
Hyperlinks to Legal Authorities
If your filing includes specific rules or statutes found on government websites, or to case information and other legal authorities (Westlaw or Lexis), hyperlinks should be included in the filing.
Online Resources:
Creating and E-Filing an Appendix
Be aware of the size restrictions on your appendix. An appendix should include only information that is cited in the brief and that are essential to the final decision of the appeal. Start developing your appendix by starting with "native format" documents and then add other relevant materials. Items to include are:
- Court Orders
- Trial transcripts
- Deposition transcripts
- Other trial court records
- Contracts or other legal documents
- Drawings
- Legal exhibits
- Historical photographs
Records need to be converted into text-searchable documents and combined into one single file. For documents that cannot be converted, scanning needs to be done using optical character recognition software. Be sure to condense documents to ensure that the files are not too large for the e-filing system.
E-Filing a Combined Brief and Appendix
Where appropriate, e-filers are encouraged to file a combined brief and appendix as a single document.