Aaron Nash
Director, Certification & Licensing Division
Arizona Supreme Court and Administrative Office of the Courts
1501 W. Washington St., Ste. 104
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-452-3378
[email protected]
Comment deadline is October 7, 2024

On August 29, 2024, the Court entered Administrative Order 2024-175 (AO) extending the Alternative Business Structure (ABS) renewal period from one year to two years. Under the modification, license holders who received initial licensure in August 2024 and earlier will renew on the current, one-year schedule applicable to their license. The license approval notification letter ABSs receive from the Certification and Licensing Division (Division) states the ABS’s license expiration date.

Under the AO’s terms, after a currently-licensed ABS’s pending one-year renewal, their next renewal period will be for two years. Applicants approved for initial licensure in September 2024 and after will apply for renewal every two years.

The modifications specify that complete renewal applications are to be submitted to the Division within 90 days before the license expires. Renewal fees were modified to reflect the two-year licensure period. The Division’s licensure notification letters will continue to include each ABS’s license expiration date. The name change fee was increased from $25 to $50, consistent with name change fee increases the Arizona Judicial Council previously approved for other programs regulated by the Division.

The renewal modification addresses feedback from ABSs and the ABS Committee that renewals every two years are preferable to annual renewals. The modification also addresses a Division backlog in processing applications.