The Arizona probate process is the court-supervised procedure for settling someone’s estate after death, run through the Superior Court in the county where the person lived and governed by Title 14 of the Arizona Revised Statutes.1Justia. Arizona Trusts, Estates and Protective Proceedings Laws – 2025 Arizona Revised Statutes Title 14 A personal representative is appointed, creditors are notified and paid, and whatever is left goes to the people named in the will or, if there is no will, to the heirs set by state law. Most estates that go through this process take six months to over a year to close.
When Probate Is Required
Probate is triggered when a deceased person owned assets solely in their own name with no built-in transfer mechanism. The common examples are real estate titled only in the deceased person’s name, bank accounts without a payable-on-death designation, and vehicles or other personal property with no co-owner or named beneficiary. If an asset needs a court order to change hands, probate is how you get one.
Many assets skip probate entirely. Property held in a living trust passes under the trust’s terms. Jointly owned property with a right of survivorship transfers directly to the surviving owner. Life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts, and anything with a transfer-on-death or payable-on-death beneficiary go straight to that beneficiary without court involvement. If every asset the person owned fits into one of these categories, there is nothing for the probate court to do.
The Small Estate Shortcut
Arizona lets heirs skip the full process when the estate falls below two value thresholds. Under A.R.S. § 14-3971, if the total value of the deceased person’s personal property (bank accounts, vehicles, investments, and belongings) is $200,000 or less after subtracting debts, heirs can collect that property using an affidavit after waiting at least 30 days from the date of death. For real property worth $300,000 or less after liens, heirs can file an affidavit with the court, but must wait at least six months after the death.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 14-3971 – Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit
Those thresholds were raised in 2025 by H.B. 2116, up from $75,000 for personal property and $100,000 for real property.3Arizona Legislature. HB 2116 – Small Estate Affidavit Limits Many estates that would have required full probate under the old limits can now be handled with an affidavit. The affidavit must state that funeral expenses and final medical bills have been paid and that no personal representative has been appointed.
The Three Types of Probate Proceedings
Arizona offers three levels of probate, and the right one depends on how complicated the estate is and whether anyone disagrees about the will or who should be in charge.
Informal probate is the simplest and most common. A registrar at the Superior Court reviews the application and appoints a personal representative without a hearing. It works when there is a valid will (or no will but clear heirs), no disputes, and a straightforward estate. The personal representative then handles the administration with minimal court oversight, only returning to court when the statutes require it or problems arise.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-3703 – General Duties, Relation and Liability to Persons Interested in Estate
Formal probate is required when someone challenges the will, disputes arise about who should serve as personal representative, or the registrar cannot approve an informal application. A judge holds hearings and makes rulings on the contested issues. Once those are resolved, the personal representative proceeds with the administration.
Supervised administration is the most court-intensive option. A judge oversees every major step, and the personal representative generally cannot distribute assets without court approval. This is rare and usually ordered when there are serious concerns about mismanagement or complex disputes that need ongoing judicial involvement.5Justia. Arizona Trusts, Estates and Protective Proceedings Laws – 2025 Arizona Revised Statutes Title 14 – Chapter 3, Article 5
The Steps Once Probate Opens
The sequence looks much the same whether the proceeding is formal or informal. What changes is how much the court is involved along the way.
Filing and Appointment
Someone files a petition or application with the Superior Court in the county where the deceased person lived. The court reviews the filing and appoints a personal representative. If the deceased named someone in their will, that person typically gets the appointment. The role is sometimes called the executor, though Arizona’s statutes use “personal representative.”6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-3709 – Duty of Personal Representative, Possession of Estate, Discovery of Concealed Assets
This is a fiduciary role. The personal representative must act in the best interests of the estate and its beneficiaries, held to the same standard as a trustee of a formal trust, and faces personal liability for mismanagement.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 14-3712 – Improper Exercise of Power, Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Notice to Creditors
Once appointed, the personal representative publishes a notice to creditors in a local newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 14-3801 – Notice to Creditors Creditors then have four months from the date the notice is first published to submit their claims. The personal representative must also send direct written notice to any creditors they know about, and a known creditor who receives notice by mail gets the later of four months from first publication or 60 days from the mailing date. Any creditor who misses the deadline is permanently barred from collecting.
Inventory and Payment of Debts
While the creditor window runs, the personal representative gathers the deceased person’s assets, secures property, and determines values. Real estate, vehicles, financial accounts, business interests, and personal belongings all have to be identified and accounted for. Professional appraisals are common for real estate and high-value items.
As valid claims come in, the personal representative reviews and pays them from estate funds. Federal tax debts take priority over other creditors, and a personal representative who pays lower-priority debts first can be held personally responsible for the unpaid tax balance.9Internal Revenue Service. Working Decedent Cases Any claim the personal representative considers invalid can be rejected, and the creditor’s remedy is to petition the court.
Distribution and Closing
After debts, taxes, and administrative expenses are paid, the personal representative distributes whatever remains to the beneficiaries named in the will or to the heirs identified by Arizona’s intestacy laws. The personal representative then files a final accounting and petitions to close the estate. Once the court approves the closing, the role ends.
How Long It Takes
The four-month creditor notification window sets the floor. Nothing can close faster than that. A straightforward informal probate with no disputes and few assets commonly wraps up in six to nine months. Estates with real estate to sell, business interests to value, tax issues, or disagreements among heirs regularly stretch past a year.
Formal probate and supervised administration take longer because court hearings add scheduling delays. A contested will or a fight over the personal representative appointment can push the timeline well past a year. Court caseload matters too, especially in Maricopa County where filing volume is high.
What Probate Costs
All of the expenses below come out of the estate’s assets before anything goes to the beneficiaries.
Court Filing Fees
As of late 2024, the filing fee for an informal probate application or a formal testacy petition in Arizona Superior Court is $191. Petitions for supervised administration cost the same. Opposing a petition after someone else has already paid is $102. Postjudgment filings in probate cases run $87.10Arizona Judicial Branch. Superior Court Filing Fees – Section: Probate, Conservatorship, Guardianship, and Fiduciary Cases Certified copies of letters of appointment and other documents add smaller fees.
Personal Representative Compensation
Arizona law entitles the personal representative to “reasonable compensation” but does not set a percentage or formula.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 14-3719 – Compensation of Personal Representative What is reasonable depends on the size and complexity of the estate, the time invested, and the skill required. If the will specifies an amount, the personal representative can accept it or renounce it and claim reasonable compensation instead. Family members serving as personal representative often waive the fee, particularly when they are also the primary beneficiary.
Attorneys and Appraisers
Attorney fees are often the largest probate expense, especially in formal or contested proceedings. Arizona does not cap probate attorney fees by statute, so lawyers typically charge hourly rates or, less commonly, flat fees for straightforward estates. Publication costs for creditor notices, professional appraisals, and accounting fees for tax preparation round out the common expenses. Real estate appraisals alone commonly run $300 to $600 for a standard home.
What Happens Without a Will
When someone dies without a valid will in Arizona, the estate still goes through probate, but state law decides who inherits. Arizona is a community property state, so property acquired during a marriage generally belongs equally to both spouses. The surviving spouse already owns their half of community property outright. Only the deceased spouse’s half is part of the estate.
For that estate share, the intestacy rules work this way:12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 14-2102 – Intestate Share of Surviving Spouse
- If there is a surviving spouse and no children, or all children are also children of the surviving spouse, the spouse inherits the entire estate, including the decedent’s separate property and their half of community property.
- If the decedent had children from another relationship, the spouse receives half of the decedent’s separate property but none of the decedent’s share of community property. The children from the other relationship inherit everything else.
When there is no surviving spouse, the estate passes in this order: descendants first, then parents, then siblings and their descendants, then grandparents and their descendants.13Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 14-2103 – Heirs Other Than Surviving Spouse, Share in Estate The law moves outward through the family tree until it finds a living relative. If no relative can be found, the estate goes to the state of Arizona.
The blended-family scenario catches people off guard. A married person with children from a prior relationship who dies without a will can leave their surviving spouse with substantially less than expected, nothing from the community property share. A will or trust solves this.
Taxes During Probate
Arizona has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax, so heirs pay nothing at the state level simply for receiving an inheritance. Federal taxes are a different matter, and the personal representative is responsible for handling them.
The federal estate tax only applies to estates worth more than $15,000,000 for deaths occurring in 2026, a threshold raised by legislation signed in July 2025.14Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax The vast majority of Arizona estates fall well below this and owe no federal estate tax. Married couples can effectively double the exemption through portability, meaning the surviving spouse can use any unused portion of the deceased spouse’s exemption.
Separately, an estate that earns income after the person’s death (interest on bank accounts, rent from property, dividends from investments) may need to file a federal income tax return on Form 1041. The filing threshold is just $600 in gross income.15Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1 That is an easy bar to clear, so most estates that hold income-producing assets for more than a few weeks will need to file. The personal representative is personally responsible for making sure these returns get filed and the taxes get paid.