The Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions ONLY accepts service of legal process, accompanied by any documents that relate to the service.

The Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions only accepts service of legal process issued in this state. This means that the documents to be served must be endorsed by the clerk of a court within the State of Arizona or in a federal district court that includes Arizona in its jurisdiction.

The Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions does not execute waivers of service of process on behalf of others. You should send a waiver of service of process directly to the defendant in the case (and not to the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions).

If the State of Arizona (generally), the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, or another Arizona state agency is the defendant whom you wish to serve, you must deliver your copy of the summons and of the pleading to the attorney general. AZ ST RCP Rule 4.1(h).

For whom we accept

The Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions is the agent for accepting service of legal process for:

• Foreign insurers [ARS §§ 20-215, 20-221(A) and 20-481.08]
• Alien insurers [ARS §§ 20-215, 20-221(A) and 20-481.08]
• Domestic insurers who have appointed the director as its attorney to receive legal process [ARS § 20-221(D)] SERVING LEGAL PROCESS 
• Domestic reciprocal insurers [ARS §§ 20-221(A) and 20-776(A)]
• Nonresident insurance professionals [ARS § 20-291(A)]
• Unauthorized insurers [ARS §§ 20-401.03, 20-403, 20-419 or 20-261.01(A)(6)(b)]
• Nonresident life settlement providers and brokers [ARS § 20-3202(H)]
• Nonresident insurance intermediaries [ARS § 20-486.01(D)]
• Lloyd’s associations [ARS §§ 20-1024(7) and 20-1030]
• Foreign/alien prepaid dental plan organizations [ARS § 20-1003(A)(11)]
• Foreign/alien health care services organizations (HMO’s) [ARS § 20- 1053(A)(10)]
• Certain purchasing groups [ARS § 20-2407(B)]
• Certain captive insurers [ARS § 20-1098.01(E)(3)]
• Certain risk retention groups [ARS § 20-2403(A)(4)]
• Certain insurance support organizations [ARS § 20-2115]

Steps to follow

1. Search up the legal name of the licensee or company in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) State Based System Look Up). If you are unsure as to whether the person to be served is a company or licensee, try using both searches to locate the entity. Select "ARIZONA"as the jurisdiction

• A “company,” which generally means an insurance company or other risk-bearing entity.
• A “licensee,” which generally means an individual or business-entity insurance professional

NAIC STATE BASED SYSTEM LOOK UP

2. Once you find the entity, determine who you need to serve with legal process.

• If the entity is a company and its domicile type is either “foreign” or “alien,” you need to serve:

ARIZONA DIRECTOR OF INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

100 NORTH 15TH AVENUE, SUITE 261 PHOENIX, AZ 85007-2624

• If the entity is a company and its domicile type is “domestic,” you need to scroll down to the “Contact Type” section and find the STATUTORY AGENT contact type, which will display who is designated to accept legal process for the domestic insurer.
• If the entity is a licensee showing “No” in the “Resident” field, you need to serve:

ARIZONA DIRECTOR OF INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

100 NORTH 15TH AVENUE, SUITE 261 PHOENIX, AZ 85007-2624

• If the entity is a licensee showing “Yes” in the “Resident” field, you need to find the statutory agent using the eCorp system on the Arizona Corporation Commission website (www.azcc.gov). The person identified in the “Statutory Agent Information” section of the eCorp record has been designated to accept legal process for the resident licensee.

3. When serving the director of insurance and financial institutions on behalf of another entity, you must provide us two complete sets (ARS § 20-221) and the $15.00 service of process fee established per ARS § 20-167(A)(11) and (F).

4. You can by check made payable to “DIFI.”

What we will not accept

Serving documents that the Department is not able to accept does not constitute legal service of process for those documents. If the director is not the statutory agent or the documents are not legal process within the meaning of the law, the Department will not accept the document or will return the documents. For example, we will not accept or may return:

• Documents that are not legal process
• Documents that did not identify the correct legal name of the person or entity to be served (Please use the search function identified above to determine the correct name.)
• Documents that are not filed in an Arizona court (If the matter was filed in a court in another state, you must serve the documents in accordance with that state’s laws.)
• A summons that names any person or entity for which the director is not the statutory agent
• Service that does not include two copies
• Service that does not include the required fee

Resources

Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) are available from the Arizona State Legislature website, at www.azleg.gov.

Arizona State Rules of Civil Procedure (AZ ST RCP), which includes Rules 4, 4.1, 4.2 and 5 concerning legal process, are accessible from the “Current Arizona Rules” link on the Arizona Court Rules Forum webpage, http://www.azcourts.gov/rules.

Questions? If you have any questions concerning the process service procedures, please contact our Administrative Assistant at (602) 364-3100. Please note that we do not provide legal advice.

This page is not intended to inform the general public of this agency's current approach to, or opinion of, or current practice based upon, the requirements of law or court order. This is not a legal opinion. We do not warrant that this webpage addresses all service of process situations, laws, rules, policies, procedures, or practices.