Clearing Old Cases in More Than One Arizona Court

You have more than one old case, and they are not all in the same courthouse. One sits in a city court, another in a county superior court, and a third is an arrest from decades ago that never turned into a charge. You want all of it gone, and nobody has told you how many filings that takes.

We file set aside and sealing applications in Arizona courts of every size, every week. AZ Record Removal is owned and powered by Future First Criminal Law, and clearing Arizona records is the only work we do.

Why does each Arizona court rule on its own cases?

Because no Arizona court has authority over another court’s file. A superior court judge rules on superior court cases, a city court judge on city court cases, and a justice court judge on its own docket. The law is written the same way. Under A.R.S. § 13-905, a set aside application goes to the court that entered the judgment of guilt. Under A.R.S. § 13-911, a sealing application for a conviction goes to the court where the conviction was entered, and a sealing application for a dismissed case goes to the court where the charge was filed.

So one person with cases in three courts is three strangers as far as the clerks are concerned. Each court pulls its own file, runs its own review, notifies the prosecutor who handled that case, and signs its own order. Nothing one judge signs reaches the case across the street.

How many applications do you need when your cases sit in several courts?

One application per case per type of relief, filed in the court that owns the case. A felony conviction in superior court that qualifies for both a set aside and sealing needs two applications in that court. A misdemeanor in a city court needs its own filings there. An arrest that never became a charge needs a sealing application in the court where the initial appearance happened, or in the superior court of the county of arrest if there was no appearance.

The count climbs fast. A person with a dozen cases across several courts is looking at somewhere near twenty filings. Some courts let you list several of their own cases on one application. No court lets you list a case from a different court. Our guide on sealing more than one Arizona case at a time covers the single court version. This post covers what changes when the cases are spread out.

What does a set aside do under A.R.S. § 13-905?

A set aside asks the judge to set aside the judgment of guilt, dismiss the charge, and release you from the penalties and disabilities of the conviction. Read A.R.S. § 13-905 and you see it opens to anyone who finished probation or the sentence and was discharged by the judge. The clerk is barred from charging a filing fee on the application. The law shuts out a dangerous offense, an offense that requires sex offender registration, and a felony with a victim under fifteen.

A set aside does not hide the case. The public record stays public and now shows the conviction with a set aside order attached. Anyone who runs a search still sees it. That is why a set aside and a sealing travel together on an old conviction. The set aside changes what the record means, and the sealing changes who sees it. Our set aside service page lists what we file and what it costs.

What does sealing do under A.R.S. § 13-911?

Sealing takes the public court record out of public view. As of 2026, the sealing law works this way. A.R.S. § 13-911 covers a conviction, a dismissed charge, a not guilty verdict, and an arrest that never led to a charge. When a judge grants the application, the clerk seals the file, the Department of Public Safety marks its records sealed, and the arresting agency and the prosecutor flag theirs. From that day you may state that you were never arrested for, charged with, or convicted of that crime, with a short list of exceptions for fingerprint clearance cards and certain jobs.

A conviction carries a waiting period. Ten years for a class 2 or 3 felony, five years for a class 4, 5 or 6 felony, three years for a class 1 misdemeanor, two years for a class 2 or 3 misdemeanor. The clock runs from the day you finished the sentence, and every fine, fee and restitution order has to be paid when you file. A dismissal, a not guilty verdict, or a vacated conviction has no waiting period at all. Sealing does not touch a news story, a Google result, or a mugshot website. Our record sealing service page covers what the order reaches.

What does a Certificate of Second Chance add?

A Certificate of Second Chance is an order the judge issues with a set aside, and it does work the set aside alone does not. Under A.R.S. § 13-905, the judge issues it on a misdemeanor set aside, on a class 4, 5 or 6 felony set aside once two years have passed since you finished the sentence, and on a class 2 or 3 felony set aside once five years have passed. If the judge did not issue one with the set aside, you apply for it later once the time has run.

The certificate releases you from the barriers a conviction puts in front of many state occupational licenses, as long as you otherwise qualify. It also gives employers and housing providers legal protection when they hire or rent to you, which removes their main reason for saying no. A person gets one certificate on a felony set aside in a lifetime, so which case carries it matters. Our post on what a Certificate of Second Chance does in Arizona goes deeper.

Does an old arrest with no charge still show on your record?

Yes. An arrest enters the Department of Public Safety record the day it happens, and the prosecutor declining to file a charge does not take it out. The same is true of a case dismissed decades ago. The court file stays public and the arrest stays in the state database until a judge orders both sealed. People are stunned to find an arrest from their twenties on a background check in their fifties. It sits there because nobody ever asked a judge to remove it.

A.R.S. § 13-911 fixes this with no waiting period, and the age of the arrest makes no difference. Pull your own record first through our Arizona record search page so you know every entry before anything is filed. Our post on sealing an arrest that never became a charge walks through that filing.

Does a set aside restore firearm rights on every case?

Not on every case, and only when the judge grants it. Under A.R.S. § 13-905, a set aside restores your right to possess a firearm unless the conviction was for a serious offense as the law defines it. A dangerous offense is shut out of the set aside entirely. For a conviction that does not qualify through the set aside, A.R.S. § 13-910 offers a separate application to restore firearm rights, with a ten year wait after a serious offense and a flat bar on a dangerous offense, and the judge holds full discretion on it.

When you have several felony convictions in several courts, the firearm answer is only as good as the weakest case. One conviction that still bars possession keeps you barred, no matter how many others are set aside. That is the reason to clear every felony conviction rather than the easy ones. Our firearm rights restoration page explains what the order says and what a dealer checks.

Why do some courts reject a first filing?

Because every court runs its own clerk’s office with its own forms, its own cover sheets, and its own idea of a complete filing. A superior court accepts an electronic filing on one form. A city court across town wants a different form, a different caption, and a paper copy. Some courts reject a first filing on form alone, with a stamp that says nothing about the merits. The fix, more often than people expect, is walking the corrected packet to the window and filing it in person.

A rejection on form is not a denial. A denial under A.R.S. § 13-911 bars a new sealing application for three years, so the difference matters. A clerk’s rejection resets nothing. You fix the form and refile. We track which court wants what, because the only way to learn it is to have been bounced by that court before. Our post on the top mistakes people make applying for record removal lists the common ones.

How long does clearing cases in several courts take?

Longer than one case, and the slowest court sets the pace. Every filing moves on its own clock. A sealing application sits for 60 days after the court receives it unless the prosecutor and any victims tell the judge they do not object. A set aside has no fixed clock. Some judges rule in weeks and some take a year or more. The filings run in parallel, so three courts do not mean three times the wait, but the last signature decides when you are done.

Old cases add their own delay. A thirty year old file might be on microfilm, in a warehouse, or folded into another case, and the clerk has to find it before the judge rules. We have watched a single court take more than a year on one application while the others closed around it. Our sealing timeline page tracks what courts are doing this year.

What happened for a client with cases in three counties?

A client came to us with more than a dozen old cases spread across three counties and several courts. The oldest was more than thirty years old and the newest was about fifteen. The mix looked like most long records do, with several felony convictions, a run of misdemeanors, and a few arrests the prosecutor never charged. Each court got its own applications. Some clerks accepted the first filing. Some rejected it on form and took it on the second try, in person. One court took more than a year to rule.

The whole project ran more than two years. At the end, the judges had signed twenty-one orders. They set aside every felony conviction. They sealed every case, the convictions, the misdemeanors, and the arrests that never became charges. The set aside orders restored firearm rights, and a judge issued a Certificate of Second Chance. Those are things the courts did in that case, after the waiting periods had run and the filings were right. They say nothing about what a judge will do in yours. They do say the process holds up when someone stays on it.

Is one old case enough to be worth clearing?

Yes. Zachary Divelbiss, our founder, makes this point to every person who calls about a record they think is too small to bother with. One case is the whole record to the person reading the background check. A single old misdemeanor in a city court fails the same screen a dozen cases fail. One arrest that never became a charge still reads as an arrest. Every one of the twenty-one orders in the story above cleared a single case. A record with one case needs one order, and that order does the same work.

The math points the same way. A conviction carries a waiting period and a dismissal carries none, so the case you assume is the hard one is often the easiest to file. Our free eligibility quiz sorts your cases by what each one qualifies for in a few minutes. You learn which court owns each case and which filing goes where before you spend a dollar.

Why should you choose AZ Record Removal?

Three concrete reasons. First, we pull your record before you pay and tell you what it shows, court by court, so you know every case before the first filing. Second, we file every application in every court on the form that court wants, and we refile in person when a clerk bounces one. Third, we track every court until the signed order is in hand, which matters most on a project with twenty filings and ten judges.

We are owned and powered by Future First Criminal Law. Zachary Divelbiss cleared his own six convictions with a set aside and sealing before he cleared anyone else’s. We hold 250+ five-star Google reviews. The fee is a flat $1,700 per case, with every case after the first at $1,200, and that fee covers the set aside, the sealing, and the Certificate of Second Chance on a case that qualifies for all three. No court fees, no travel, and no surcharge for a court outside Phoenix. Full numbers sit on our pricing page.

What should you do next?

Make a list of every court you remember, then let us find the ones you do not. Call 602-900-6240 and we will pull your Arizona record, sort every case by court, and tell you which filing goes to which judge and what the whole project costs. Phones are answered around the clock, and consultations are scheduled during business hours. No judge is required to grant any application. A filing in the right court on the right form is the part we control. Our record removal services page lists every filing we handle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I file one application for all my Arizona cases?

No. Each court rules only on its own cases, so each court needs its own application. A court that holds several of your cases will often take them on one application, but a case in a different court always needs a separate filing. Set aside and sealing are separate applications as well, so one conviction often means two filings in the same court.

Does a sealing rejection on form count as a denial?

No. A clerk who bounces a filing for a missing cover sheet or the wrong form has not ruled on anything. You correct the packet and refile, sometimes in person. A denial is a judge’s ruling after review, and under A.R.S. § 13-911 a denial bars a new sealing application on that case for three years.

Is there a waiting period to seal an arrest that was never charged?

No. The waiting periods in A.R.S. § 13-911 apply only to convictions. An arrest with no charge, a dismissed case, and a not guilty verdict have no waiting period, so those filings go in right away. Age does not matter either. An arrest from thirty years ago is filed the same way as one from last year.

Does clearing cases in three counties cost three times as much?

The fee is per case, not per county. The first case is $1,700 and every case after it is $1,200, and that covers every filing the case qualifies for, in whatever court holds it. A case in a court far from Phoenix costs the same as one downtown. Payment plans are available.