REQUEST TO ASSESS NEW POST DECREE OPEN NEGOTIATIONS FEE ATTACHMENT.PDF

JUDICIAL BRANCH OF ARIZONA
Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County
Date: July 22, 2014
Request to Assess New Post Decree Open Negotiations Fees
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 11-251.08, the Superior Court of Arizona for Maricopa County requests
the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) to authorize and approve the establishment of a
Post Decree Open Negotiation fee of $100 per party. The $100 Open Negotiation fee will recoup
funds expended on staff salaries that conduct these conferences.
Pursuant to Rule 66(B) (5) of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure, open negotiation
is a process of non-confidential negotiations between the parties conducted by a neutral third
party (a Conciliator) to attempt to resolve their dispute. The intent of this rule is to encourage the
resolution of family-related cases through an additional non-adversarial dispute resolution process
created pursuant to the authority of Rule 68(E) of the Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure.
Open Negotiation has been available as a service since July 1, 2013 for cases in a pre–
decree status. Confidential mediation is the closest service to show a comparison. The Board of
Supervisors approved a $100 Post Decree Mediation Fee in 2008. Pre Decree Mediation made up
approximately 20% of the total number of mediations for each of the last two fiscal years.
Anticipating the same percentages would apply to Open Negotiations with the 80 pre decree Open
Negotiations for FY2014 (representing 20% of the total) the projection in FY2015 for Post Decree
Open Negotiations would be 340. At $100 per party, 340 Post Decree Open Negotiations would
represent $68,000 (340 by $100 by 2 parties). While having both Mediation and Open Negotiation
available provides a large array of options for Family Court litigants and the bench to utilize in
resolving disputes it should be noted the two services address the same issues; the main
difference being mediation is confidential and open negations is not. Thus they will likely compete
for the same niche of services and increase in Open Negotiations may result in a decrease in
Mediation and vice versa. Accordingly an actual change in revenue is difficult to predict. It should
be noted that if the litigants were required to obtain this service in the community the average
cost is $270 per hour. At four hours that is a cost of $1,080 ($540 per person); more than five
times the requested fee.

Each Open Negotiation averages four hours of Conciliator time (preparation, conference,
and completing a report for the court) and one hour of staff time (scheduling, processing and
distributing). The average salary of the current Conciliation staff is $31.85 per hour with an hourly
ERE of $10.43 (fixed rate of $4.28 and variable rate of 19.31%) for a total of $42.28 per hour. The
cost for four hours is $169.12. The average salary of the staff in the Family Court Judicial Clerk
series (staff) is $17.10 per hour with an hourly ERE of $10.43 for a total of $27.53 per hour. The
cost for 1.5 hours is $41.30. Adding the Conciliator cost ($169.12) and the staff cost ($41.30)
totals $210.42 for the personnel cost of providing Open Negotiation, which is greater than the
proposed $100 per party cost. Other miscellaneous costs such as supplies, equipment, building
and court costs (such as judicial officer and staff time) are not included but would certainly add to
the Open Negotiation cost of providing service.
This fee does not require approval from the Arizona Supreme Court Administrative
Office of Courts. The assessment of the fee would commence following BOS approval of the
fee. The Court is seeking for the fee to be deposited into a special revenue fund that will be
determined by the Judicial Branch Finance Department.
Conciliation Staff Total
average hourly rate $ 31.85 $ 17.10
fixed rate ERE $ 4.28 $ 4.28
variable rate ERE $ 6.15 $ 6.15
total salary $ 42.28 $ 27.53
# hours spent 4.0 1.50
Cost $ 169.12 $ 41.30 $ 210.42
FY2013 (7/1/12 - 6/30/13)
SERVICE # %
Mediation (Post Decree) 1696 79.80%
Mediation (Pre Decree) 430 20.20%
Open Negotiation 0 0.00%
Total 2126 100.00%
FY2014 (7/1/13 - 6/3/14)
SERVICE # %
Mediation (Post Decree) 1435 78.63%
Mediation (Pre Decree) 310 16.99%
Open Negotiations 80 4.38%
Total 1825 100.00%