Effective August 3, 2018, Arizona Judgments Are Good for 10 Years

In its 2018 session, the Arizona legislature modified Arizona’s judgment renewal statute.

Effective August 3, 2018, any judgment that has not expired prior to that date will automatically be valid for 10 years from the date it was issued. Within 90 days prior to the expiration of the 10-year period, the judgment may be renewed for successive 10-year periods.

Historically, a judgment entered by an Arizona court was good for a period of five years from the date of entry of the judgment. The judgment could be renewed for successive five-year periods at any time within 90 days prior to the expiration of the five-year period. Judgments are renewed by filing an Affidavit of Judgment Renewal with the Court that entered the judgment, updating the amount outstanding on a judgment and affirming that there are no outstanding collection efforts on the judgment.

The five-year statute of limitations on judgments in Arizona often created problems when judgments from states which had a 10-year limit on validity of judgments were brought to Arizona for domestication after expiration of the initial five years of the out-of-state judgments’ 10-year effectiveness.