az-statewide-format - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: az-statewide-format description: > Use when the user asks to "format an Arizona pleading", "draft an Arizona court document", "apply Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10", "build an Arizona caption", "format an Arizona complaint", or "format an Arizona motion" for any Arizona state court — Superior Court, Justice Court, or family-law proceeding. Triggers: "Arizona caption", "Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10", "form of pleadings Arizona", "Rule 7.1 motion", "AZTurboCourt", "Arizona e-filing", "certificate of service Arizona", "line numbering", "Arizona motion format", "how do I format an Arizona complaint". Covers the Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 caption form, numbered paragraphs, Rule 11 signature block with State Bar bar number, Rule 5 electronic filing via AZTurboCourt, certificate of service, line-numbered pleading paper, footer conventions, and Arizona citation format. version: 0.1.1

Arizona Statewide Court Document Formatting

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. This skill assists with drafting and formatting only. Verify against the current Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure and the local rules and administrative orders of the filing court before submitting any document.

Use these conventions whenever drafting a paper to be filed in an Arizona state trial court. The form of an Arizona court document is governed primarily by Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 (form of pleadings) and Ariz. R. Civ. P. 7.1 (form and presentation of motions), supplemented by Ariz. R. Civ. P. 11 (signing of documents and sanctions) and Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5 / 5.1 (service and filing, including electronic filing).

Governing rules

Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(a) — the caption: every pleading must have a caption in the form prescribed by Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a) and carry the pleading's designation; the complaint's title must name all parties, and other documents may use "et al." after the first party on each side.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a) — the actual caption form: the upper-left block with the filer's name, address, phone, email, and (for an attorney) the State Bar of Arizona attorney identification number and party represented; the centered court title; the action title; the case number; the document description; and the assigned judge.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(b) — allegations are stated in numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances; claims founded on separate transactions are stated in separate counts.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(c) — adoption by reference and exhibits; a written instrument attached as an exhibit is part of the pleading for all purposes.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 7.1 — form of motions, including the requirement that a motion state the grounds and the relief sought, and the procedure for requesting oral argument.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 11 — the signature requirement and sanctions provision: every document must be signed, and the signature certifies the representations the rule prescribes.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5 — service of pleadings and other papers and the proof/certificate of service.
Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.1 — electronic filing through the court's designated system (AZTurboCourt).

Pull the verbatim rule text from the az-law-references corpus at ../az-law-references/references/court-rules/ before relying on any specific paper, margin, or font figure — those values live in the rule text and the local rules, not in this skill, so they never drift here.

Paper and legibility

File on letter-size (8½ × 11 inch) paper of standard quality, black ink on white, with a legible serif body font. Confirm the current margin, font, and spacing figures against the verbatim rule text and any applicable local rule in the corpus — this skill defers those values rather than embedding numbers that may change. Customary practice:

Item	Practice
Paper size	US Letter, 8½ × 11 inches
Body font	A legible serif, commonly 12 point
Ink	Black on white
Page numbers	Each page numbered; `Page X of Y` in the footer

scripts/format-check.py validates a generated .docx against the Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 baseline and flags departures.

Line numbering (pleading paper) — applied BY DEFAULT

Apply continuous line numbering down the left margin of every generated Arizona pleading. Line numbers count every body line and restart on each page.

Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 does not itself require line numbering, and an Arizona document filed without line numbers is rule-compliant. But line-numbered pleading paper is the universal convention across this marketplace: it lets the court and opposing counsel cite an exact location ("page 4, lines 12–15") and never harms an Arizona filing. Apply it by default to every motion, brief, declaration, affidavit, notice, and proposed order. Exhibits and attachments are exempt.

For programmatically generated .docx documents, apply line numbering through the section's lineNumbers property:

import { LineNumberRestartFormat } from "docx";

sections: [{
  properties: {
    page: { /* size + margins */ },
    lineNumbers: {
      countBy: 1,                                // number every line
      restart: LineNumberRestartFormat.NEW_PAGE, // restart 1.. each page
    },
  },
  // ...
}]

This emits <w:lnNumType w:countBy="1" w:restart="newPage"/> into the section's <w:sectPr>. The numbers render in the left margin and do not shift the text margin.

Do NOT set start explicitly. An explicit start: 1 renders off by one in LibreOffice (the first body line shows "2"). Omit start — it defaults to 1 in OOXML.

If the first page uses a different top margin from later pages (to seat the caption block), use a two-section layout — and set lineNumbers on both sections, or numbering stops at the section break. As an alternative to two sections, push page-1 content down with a leading paragraph's spacing: { before: ... }. Confirm whether the filing court sets a larger page-1 top margin against the rule text before adding the second section; if it does not, still apply the footer and line numbers.

Required footer (mandatory on every generated document)

Every generated document MUST carry a running footer on every page:

Left: a short document identifier — typically [Document title] — Case No. [case number]. Keep it to a single line so it never wraps.
Right: Page X of Y, where X is the current page number and Y is the total page count. Use Word's PAGE and NUMPAGES fields — never a static number.
Font: 10 pt; matches body font family.
Alignment: a right-aligned tab stop at 9,360 DXA (6.5") places the page counter flush right while the title stays flush left.

The footer runs continuously from page 1 through the last exhibit page — do not restart or suppress pagination anywhere.

Caption structure (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(a) / 5.2(a))

Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(a) requires the caption to be in the form prescribed by Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.2(a). That form calls for the court title, the party (action) title, the case number, a description of the document, the assigned judge (if known), and an upper-left filer-identification block (name, address, phone, email, and — for an attorney — the State Bar of Arizona attorney identification number). Confirm the exact placement and line positions against Rule 5.2(a) in the corpus. The Arizona caption stacks these elements:

        IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA

              IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF MARICOPA

JANE DOE,                          )   No. ____________________
                                   )
       Plaintiff,                  )   The Honorable ___________
                                   )
v.                                 )
                                   )   [DOCUMENT TITLE]
ACME COLLECTIONS, LLC,             )
                                   )
       Defendant.                  )
___________________________________)

The caption elements in order

Court identifier block (centered, ALL CAPS):
- Superior Court: IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA / IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF [COUNTY].
- Justice Court: IN THE [PRECINCT NAME] JUSTICE COURT / [COUNTY] COUNTY, STATE OF ARIZONA — see az-justice-courts for precinct naming and the limited-jurisdiction caption.
- Family-law matters proceed in Superior Court; many use the In re the Marriage of [names] or In re the Matter of in-rem caption — see az-family-court.
Party block. On the left, the parties stacked with their designations, separated by a centered v.:
- Plaintiff / Defendant for general civil actions;
- Petitioner / Respondent in dissolution and many special proceedings. A column of right-hand parentheses (or a vertical rule) sets the party block off from the case-number / judge column, closed at the bottom by a horizontal line.
Case-number / judge column (right side). No. ____________________ carries the case number — blank on an initial filing (the clerk assigns and stamps it) and populated on every subsequent paper. Add the assigned judge or division: The Honorable ____________________. For the county-specific case-number prefixes and division/department custom, see az-maricopa, az-pima, and az-superior-courts.
Document title (centered, ALL CAPS) below the caption rule: e.g., COMPLAINT, ANSWER, MOTION TO DISMISS, MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT.

Numbered paragraphs (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(b))

Under Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(b), the allegations of a pleading are made in numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances; later paragraphs may adopt by reference earlier ones. Number with an Arabic numeral, a period, and a tab: 1.\tDefendant is a resident of Maricopa County, Arizona. State claims founded on separate transactions in separate counts where separation aids clarity.

Exhibits and adoption by reference (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(c))

Under Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10(c), a statement in a pleading may be adopted by reference elsewhere in the same pleading, and a copy of a written instrument that is an exhibit is part of the pleading for all purposes. Reference each exhibit by letter in the body ("a true copy of the [instrument] is attached as Exhibit A") and attach the copies after the signature block and certificate of service.

Form of motions (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 7.1)

Under Ariz. R. Civ. P. 7.1, a motion must state with particularity the grounds for the relief sought and the relief or order sought. A motion is presented with its supporting memorandum; the rule and any applicable local rule govern page limits and the briefing schedule (response and reply), so confirm those against the corpus.

A party who wants oral argument requests it as the rule provides — typically by a notation in the caption or title of the motion or response (e.g., (Oral Argument Requested)). Confirm the current mechanics and any time limit against the verbatim Rule 7.1 text in the corpus. See az-draft-motion for the motion scaffold and az-hearings for argument practice.

Signature block (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 11)

Under Ariz. R. Civ. P. 11, every document must be signed by at least one attorney of record in the attorney's own name, or, if the party is self-represented, by the party. The signature certifies the representations the rule prescribes — that the document is warranted by existing law or a non-frivolous argument and is not interposed for an improper purpose — and the rule carries sanctions for a violation.

An attorney's signature block must include the attorney's State Bar of Arizona bar number:

Respectfully submitted,


                                   ____________________________
                                   [Name], Bar No. ______
                                   [Firm name]
                                   [Street address]
                                   [City, AZ ZIP]
                                   Phone: (###) ###-####
                                   Email: name@example.com
                                   Attorney for [Party]

Self-represented filers omit the bar number and identify as self-represented:

                                   ____________________________
                                   [Name]
                                   [Street address]
                                   [City, AZ ZIP]
                                   Phone: (###) ###-####
                                   Email: name@example.com
                                   Self-Represented [Party]

See az-pro-se for the full self-represented drafting framework.

Certificate of service (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5)

Every paper required to be served on the other parties is accompanied by a certificate of service under Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5. Place it at the foot of the document:

                   CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on [date] I served a copy of the foregoing
[Document Title] on:

  [Opposing party / counsel name]
  [Address]
  by [the court's electronic-filing system (AZTurboCourt) /
      first-class mail, postage prepaid / personal delivery /
      email as permitted by Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5].

                                   ____________________________
                                   [Signer name]

Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5 prescribes the permitted methods of serving subsequent papers. Initial process (the summons and complaint) is served under Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4 / 4.1 / 4.2, not Rule 5.

Filing mechanics: AZTurboCourt (Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.1)

Arizona's statewide electronic-filing portal is AZTurboCourt. Electronic filing is mandatory in many Superior Courts and is governed by Ariz. R. Civ. P. 5.1 and the court's administrative orders, which control the form and signature of electronically filed documents. Confirm whether the venue mandates e-filing and which document types it accepts before assembling a packet. See the venue skills and az-file-packet.

Citation format

Arizona filings follow standard legal citation (the Bluebook), with Arizona-specific reporters:

Arizona Supreme Court: State v. Smith, 250 Ariz. 1, 475 P.3d 100 (2020) — the official Ariz. reporter plus the Pacific Reporter parallel.
Arizona Court of Appeals: Smith v. Jones, 250 Ariz. 1, 480 P.3d 200 (App. 2020).
Statutes: A.R.S. § 12-541.
Court rules: Ariz. R. Civ. P. 56(a); evidence rules: Ariz. R. Evid. 803(6).

See az-fact-check for citation verification against the corpus.

Producing documents programmatically

For .docx generation, use the docx npm package. Key points:

Set page size explicitly to US Letter (12,240 × 15,840 DXA) — the library defaults to A4.
Use a legible serif at the Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 / local-rule minimum size.
Build the footer with a right-aligned tab stop at 9,360 DXA and use PageNumber.CURRENT / PageNumber.TOTAL_PAGES for "Page X of Y".
Apply the lineNumbers section property above (omit start); set it on every section if you use a two-section page-1 layout.

Run scripts/format-check.py on the generated .docx to validate the Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 baseline.

Composition

For Maricopa County (Phoenix): az-maricopa
For Pima County (Tucson): az-pima
For other Superior Courts: az-superior-courts
For Justice Court (limited jurisdiction): az-justice-courts
For drafting specific document types: az-draft-motion, az-draft-declaration, az-draft-note, az-draft-order
For pro se conventions: az-pro-se
For pre-filing QC: az-quality-check
For citation verification: az-fact-check

References

az-law-references — canonical Ariz. R. Civ. P., Ariz. R. Evid., A.R.S., and local-rules corpus at ../az-law-references/references/court-rules/
scripts/format-check.py — Ariz. R. Civ. P. 10 format validation