The Zoom mediations have been proceeding even better than expected. They are different but they work. One advantage has been screen sharing allows us to review documents with our clients in real time. We anticipate that we still offer Zoom meditations as an option once the health crisis passes. One of the difficulties has been signing and notarizing documents. Signing can be a little more involved. We email the documents in PDF to the parties. One party signs the documents and then mails to the other party for signing and filing. Notarizing was a problem. Arizona allows online notarization and there are numerous programs that provide online notarization. However, you must share the documents with the provider and we felt this did not allow for enough privacy and security. Fortunately, the Arizona Supreme Court’s Administrative Order No. 2020-59 Authorizing a Modification of Court Rules During a Public Health Emergency came to the rescue. It ordered that Courts may accept for filing any document identified under Rule 14 (a) Rules of Family Law Procedure without notarization if they are accompanied by a photocopy of the filer’s driver license or other government-issued identification card.
Learn more about mediation at https://www.center-divorce-mediation.com CDM (370) 6/03/20