Spreadsheet checks before running Closing Cost in Arizona

What the checker catches

DocketMath’s closing-cost tool can help you validate spreadsheets before you run “Closing Cost” numbers in Arizona (US-AZ). In practice, the biggest risk with closing-cost workflows is carrying forward an incorrect assumption about timeliness when your sheet includes dates (for example: event/incident dates, filing dates, last-known dates, or other “from/to” dates).

This Arizona-aware checker focuses on the errors that most often cause timeliness filters (and “is within limitations” flags) to behave incorrectly.

Here are the key issues it catches:

• Missing or inconsistent dates

  • Blank cells for key dates (commonly an “event date” vs. a “filed date”).
  • Dates stored as plain text instead of real spreadsheet date values.
  • Format drift across tabs (for example, one tab uses YYYY-MM-DD while another uses MM/DD/YYYY), which can lead to partial parsing or inconsistent conversions.

• Overstated limitations window

  • Arizona’s general/default criminal statute of limitations period is 2 years.
  • The checker uses the general/default period under A.R.S. § 13-107(A) to validate whether your computed time span fits the expected window.
  • Important: No claim-type-specific sub-rule was found for this use case, so the checker intentionally does not branch into specialized time limits; it relies on the general/default 2-year period.

• Mismatched “days vs. months” logic

  • Some spreadsheets calculate duration using months difference, while others use days difference.
  • The checker flags scenarios where the “2 years” computation may drift due to:

    • rounding behavior,
    • month-diff vs. day-diff conventions,
    • and inconsistent day-count handling across tabs.

• Incorrect directionality

  • It’s easy to accidentally subtract dates in the wrong order (e.g., filed_date - event_date vs. event_date - filed_date).
  • The checker detects negative, zero, or otherwise implausible durations that typically indicate swapped columns or an inverted “from/to” setup.

Pitfall to watch: If your spreadsheet combines a “2 years” rule with inconsistent date math conventions (for example, mixed day-count methods or different rounding approaches), boundary records—like Feb 29 or end-of-year transitions—can flip from “in” to “out” (or vice versa) unexpectedly.

When to run it

Run the checker before any closing-cost output depends on timeliness filtering, eligibility flags, or any “within limitations” statuses.

A practical trigger checklist:

• ✅ Before the first full calculation

  • The first time you load your case table (or payment table) into the workflow.

• ✅ After every spreadsheet import

  • Especially when your data came from OCR, exports, or CSV conversions where date fields can arrive as strings.

• ✅ After you edit or remap columns

  • Example: renaming event_date to incidentDate, or changing which column index the date logic reads from.

• ✅ When you touch boundary cases

  • Records near the 2-year boundary (for example, around the “about 730 days” range) are where off-by-one issues show up most often.

• ✅ Before sharing output snapshots

  • If results are reused in emails, decks, or internal reviews, run the checker again to confirm the last-minute data changes didn’t reintroduce a date issue.

Because the Arizona general/default limitations period is 2 years under A.R.S. § 13-107(A), the checker’s job is to confirm your sheet computes that window consistently (and that your date fields are interpreted correctly).

For reference, the statute description is commonly summarized here: https://www.findlaw.com/state/arizona-law/arizona-criminal-statute-of-limitations-laws.html?utm_source=openai

Gentle note: This is a spreadsheet validation workflow description, not legal advice. It’s intended to help you avoid data and logic errors when applying the 2-year general/default window in your spreadsheet.

Try the checker

You can try DocketMath’s closing-cost tool from:

• Primary CTA: /tools/closing-cost

To get the most reliable checks, standardize your inputs so the tool can compute duration consistently across your dataset.

Upload the spreadsheet, review the warnings, and then run the calculation once the inputs are clean: Try the checker.

Date inputs to standardize

Aim for a consistent set of date fields across your tabs:

• Event date (the date you’re measuring from)
• Filed date (the date you’re measuring to)
• Optional, but often helpful:

  • Update date (if your sheet tracks amendments or re-filing)
  • Status date (if you filter which records are included)

What to expect in the output

As you adjust your sheet, the checker output should change in predictable ways. For example:

Use a “small first” workflow

A simple Arizona workflow many teams use:

1. Run the checker on a small subset first (10–25 rows).
2. Verify every required date field parses cleanly.
3. Confirm durations align with your expectation for “from/to” direction.
4. Only then run the full closing-cost calculation.

Related reading

• Average closing costs in Alabama — Rule summary with authoritative citations
• Average closing costs in Alaska — Rule summary with authoritative citations
• Average closing costs in Arkansas — Rule summary with authoritative citations