Three downtown Tucson courts and the papers each one sends out

Downtown Tucson street with court buildings, where you confirm which court your case is in

Downtown Tucson has three courthouses within a few blocks of each other, and people mix them up all the time. That matters more than it sounds. The court your case sits in decides which rules apply, how fast the papers have to go out, and sometimes who is allowed to deliver them.

If you are holding a stack of papers and you are not sure what you have, look at the top of the first page. The caption names the court. Then find it below.

Pima County Superior Court, 110 W. Congress Street

This is the county's general trial court, and it hears the bigger matters: divorce and legal decision-making, civil lawsuits above the justice court's limit, probate, guardianships, and felony criminal cases. The building is at 110 West Congress Street, and the general information line is (520) 724-4200. Juvenile matters are handled separately at the Juvenile Court Center on East Ajo Way.

For a civil case in Superior Court, the clock that matters most is Rule 4(i) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. You have 90 days from filing the complaint to serve each defendant. Miss it and the case against anyone not served can be dismissed, though a judge can extend the time in some situations, usually when you can show you were working hard to serve the person. "I forgot" does not count.

Family cases in Superior Court follow their own procedural rules, but the practical point is similar. Nothing moves until the other side has been properly served and the proof is on file.

Pima County Consolidated Justice Court, 240 N. Stone Avenue

The justice court is where most Tucson landlords and small creditors end up. It sits in the Pima County Public Service Center at 240 North Stone Avenue, and the main number is (520) 724-3171. Under Arizona law, justice courts handle civil cases of $10,000 or less, and their small claims divisions handle claims of $5,000 or less. They also hear residential evictions.

Evictions are the fast lane. Under the Arizona courts' own eviction guide, the summons and complaint have to be served at least two days before the initial appearance, either by handing them to the tenant or by posting them in an obvious place and sending a copy by certified mail. Only a constable, a sheriff's deputy or a certified process server can do it. A landlord cannot serve their own tenant.

Ordinary civil cases in justice court give you more breathing room, but the person served still generally gets only 20 days to answer if served in Arizona, or 30 days if served out of state. If you are the one suing, that deadline only starts once service is done, so slow service means a slow case.

Tucson City Court, 103 E. Alameda Street

City Court sits at 103 East Alameda Street, phone 520-791-4216. It is a municipal court, so its work is mostly misdemeanors, traffic and city code matters within city limits. For private civil service it comes up far less often than the other two, and if your papers name City Court, call the clerk before assuming the usual civil rules apply.

One quirk worth knowing: if you live in Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita or South Tucson, your municipal matters go to that town's own court, not Tucson City Court. Unincorporated areas like Catalina Foothills, Vail and Green Valley have no city court at all, so their small civil matters go through the justice court system.

Why the court changes what you need from your server

A certified process server in Arizona can serve papers from any of these courts anywhere in the state. What changes is the deadline and the paperwork that has to come back. An eviction served the afternoon before the hearing is no good. A Superior Court summons served on day 91 can be a problem. A justice court small claims case may have its own service instructions printed on the forms.

When you hire someone, tell them three things up front: which court, the case number, and the date of the first hearing if there is one. A server who knows the hearing is next Tuesday will work the address differently from one who thinks there is no rush. Our guide on how to hire a process server has a longer list of what to hand over.

You can see certified servers who work Tucson on our Tucson process servers page. First Class Attorney Services is one of the Tucson-based firms listed there. Every process server on Served & Found appears on the Arizona Supreme Court's certified list.

If the papers came to you

Maybe you are not the one filing. If someone handed you papers at your door in Tucson, the same caption tells you where your answer goes. Do not send a written response to the wrong building. Superior Court filings go to the Clerk of the Superior Court, justice court filings go to the justice court, and each has its own counter and its own online filing rules. Our page on what to do if you have been served covers the first steps, and a lawyer can tell you what your answer should say.

For more on this area, start from the Tucson town page. The quickest check is still the first page of the papers: the court name is in the caption, and the case number below it tells the clerk where to file your response.

See the board: everyone in Tucson · process servers only.