# Arizona — Medical malpractice certificate/affidavit of merit requirements by US state — quoted from the state statute or court rule

For Arizona, document required is preliminary expert opinion affidavit; filing deadline is with the initial disclosures that are required by rule 26.1, Arizona rules of civil procedure; who must sign is a person who is qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education to express an opinion regarding a licensed health care professional’s standard of care or liability for the claim; consequence of non-compliance is shall dismiss the claim against the health care professional or designated nonparty at fault without prejudice; statute or rule citation is A.R.S. § 12-2603, recorded from its source on 2026-09-02.

- **State:** Arizona _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Document required:** preliminary expert opinion affidavit _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Filing deadline:** with the initial disclosures that are required by rule 26.1, Arizona rules of civil procedure _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Who must sign:** a person who is qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education to express an opinion regarding a licensed health care professional’s standard of care or liability for the claim _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Consequence of non-compliance:** shall dismiss the claim against the health care professional or designated nonparty at fault without prejudice _(verified: appears in its own passage below)_
- **Statute or rule citation:** A.R.S. § 12-2603 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> the claimant shall serve a preliminary expert opinion affidavit with the initial disclosures that are required by rule 26.1, Arizona rules of civil procedure.

## Where each value comes from

This source states these in separate places, so each value is shown with the passage that states it.

### Document required

> the claimant shall serve a preliminary expert opinion affidavit with the initial disclosures that are required by rule 26.1, Arizona rules of civil procedure.

### Filing deadline

> the claimant shall serve a preliminary expert opinion affidavit with the initial disclosures that are required by rule 26.1, Arizona rules of civil procedure.

### Who must sign

> 2. "Expert" means a person who is qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education to express an opinion regarding a licensed health care professional’s standard of care or liability for the claim.

### Consequence of non-compliance

> The court, on its own motion or the motion of the health care professional or designated nonparty at fault, shall dismiss the claim against the health care professional or designated nonparty at fault without prejudice if the claimant or the party designating the nonparty at fault fails to file and serve a preliminary expert opinion affidavit after the claimant or designated nonparty at fault or its attorney has certified that an affidavit is necessary or the court has ordered the claimant or the party designating a nonparty at fault to file and serve an affidavit.

## Source

- https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/02603.htm

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Review by: 2027-09-02.
Part of [Medical malpractice certificate/affidavit of merit requirements by US state — quoted from the state statute or court rule](https://referencesource.org/medical-malpractice-certificate-of-merit-by-state/).