Best Practice on Evictions During the Pandemic

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

In a COVID-19 environment throughout 2020 and into 2021, the eviction landscape continually evolved. Federal and state orders preventing many evictions were often announced with no advance notice to courts. This necessitated adaptation- not only fast, but thorough- by all parties involved in the process: not only judges, but clerks, constables, attorneys, landlords, tenants, and more.Through an existing committee structure and by reaching out to dozens of eviction stakeholders, the Maricopa County Justice Courts’ Best Practices Committee developed uniform, statewide, and award-winning guidance for judges and constables on the various legal issues surrounding these residential eviction moratoriums. These recommendations with each necessary and last minute revisions would become some of the most widely distributed documents in Arizona courts.