Arizona Small Estate Affidavit Statute: Limits, Filing, and Waiting Periods

The Arizona small estate affidavit lets you collect a deceased person’s assets without opening probate, as long as the estate stays under two value caps: $200,000 in personal property and $300,000 in Arizona real estate. The procedure comes from A.R.S. § 14-3971. You wait out a statutory period, sign a sworn affidavit, and present it to whoever holds the property. For many families, that means transferring bank accounts, a vehicle, or even a house in weeks rather than the year or more a full probate can take.¹

The Two Value Limits

There are two separate caps, and you can use one affidavit, the other, or both, depending on what the decedent owned.

Personal property: Total value of all personal property in the estate, wherever located, minus debts and liens, cannot exceed $200,000 as of the date of death. This includes bank and investment accounts, vehicles, and household goods.¹
Real property: Total value of Arizona real estate in the estate, minus liens and mortgages, cannot exceed $300,000 as of the date of death. Value is set by the county assessor’s full cash value for the year of death, not an appraisal or listing price. For a secured debt against the property, use the unpaid principal balance on the date of death.¹

These thresholds took effect on September 26, 2025 after a legislative increase. The applicable limits are the ones in force when you file, not when the person died. If a relative passed away before that date, you can still use the higher limits as long as you file afterward.

What Doesn’t Count Toward the Caps

A lot of what a person owns at death never enters the estate for these purposes. Anything that passes automatically to a co-owner or named beneficiary stays out of the calculation:

Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship goes to the surviving owner.
Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, and real estate covered by a beneficiary deed, pass directly to the designated person.
Life insurance and retirement account proceeds go to the named beneficiary, unless no beneficiary was named or the estate itself was named.
Assets held in a revocable living trust pass under the trust, not the estate.

Community property matters too. Property acquired during the marriage generally belongs equally to both spouses, so when one spouse dies, only the decedent’s half enters the estate. Separate property owned before the marriage, or received by gift or inheritance, counts in full.

Who Is Allowed to File

The person signing the affidavit (the “affiant”) must be entitled to receive the property, either as a beneficiary under the will or as an heir under Arizona’s intestacy rules.

If there is a will, the person named to receive the specific property files. You must attach the original will. If the will has already been admitted to probate elsewhere, a court-certified copy works instead.²

Without a will, intestacy decides. A surviving spouse takes the whole estate if the decedent had no children, or if all surviving children are also children of that spouse. If the decedent had children from another relationship, the spouse takes half of the separate property and none of the decedent’s share of community property.³ With no spouse, the order runs children, then parents, then siblings.

When Other Heirs Share the Right

If other people have an equal or greater right to the property, you can still file, but only after they have assigned their interests to you in writing. Copies of those signed assignments go in with the affidavit.² This is where the process most often breaks down. If a sibling or another heir refuses to sign, a bank or county recorder will usually refuse the affidavit, and the family ends up having to open probate instead.

The affidavit also requires you to swear that no application for appointment of a personal representative is pending and none has been granted anywhere.¹ If someone has already started probate, this process is no longer available.

Waiting Periods

You cannot act on the affidavit right away. The statute requires:

There are two separate forms, the “Affidavit for Collection of All Personal Property” and the “Affidavit for Transfer of Title to Real Property.” Both are available from the Superior Court in each county. You may need both if the estate includes both kinds of assets.

What You Need to Attach

A certified death certificate.²
The original will or a certified copy, if there was one.
A list of the property being claimed, with values.
Signed assignments from any other heirs with an equal or greater right.
Your notarized signature. The affidavit is signed under penalty of perjury, and the notary verifies your identity.¹

Collecting Personal Property

The personal property affidavit is not filed with a court. Once the 30-day period has passed and the affidavit is signed and notarized, you present it directly to whoever holds the asset.² For a bank account, that’s the bank. For a brokerage account, the brokerage. For a safe deposit box, the institution holding the box.

For a vehicle, you present the affidavit to the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division, which transfers title upon payment of the standard title transfer fees.¹

Anyone who releases property in good faith based on a properly completed affidavit is protected from liability and is required to comply. Some institutions have internal procedures and may have staff unfamiliar with the statute. Bringing a copy of A.R.S. § 14-3971 can help. If a holder still refuses, the remedy is to file a petition in probate court for an order compelling delivery.

Transferring Real Estate

Real property takes more steps. After the six-month wait, you file the completed, notarized affidavit with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the property sits.² A filing fee is due at submission. Fees vary by county. Mohave County, for example, charges $406, which includes a $35 certification fee.⁴ The fee may be waived if you qualify under Arizona’s fee waiver rules.

Once the registrar finds the affidavit complete, the court issues a certified copy. That certified copy is recorded in the county recorder’s office where the property is located, which is what actually updates the chain of title.¹ The statute puts the recording in the registrar’s hands after issuance, so ask the clerk whether it happens automatically or whether you need to take the certified copy to the recorder yourself.

Debts Don’t Go Away

Using the affidavit does not wipe out the decedent’s debts. Creditors with valid claims can still pursue payment from the assets you receive. Unlike probate, the small estate process has no formal creditor notice period and no cutoff after which claims expire. You get the property faster, but you lose the structured creditor bar-date protection probate provides.

Have a clear picture of the debts before you file. Medical bills, credit card balances, mortgages, and unpaid taxes typically survive death. Debts secured by the property itself, like a car loan or a mortgage, stay with the asset regardless of who takes it. If the debts are large relative to the estate, formal probate can actually be safer because it forces creditors to file within a set period or lose their claims.

If the Estate Is Too Large

If personal property exceeds $200,000 or Arizona real estate exceeds $300,000, this process is not available. The usual next step is Arizona’s informal probate, handled by the registrar rather than a judge and generally moving without ongoing court hearings, though you still have to comply with statutory notice and creditor claim procedures. For estates with unclear heirship, serious creditor issues, or disputes among heirs, formal supervised probate may be necessary.

Penalty for a False Affidavit

You sign under penalty of perjury.¹ Knowingly making a false statement, such as understating value to come in under the cap or claiming to be the sole heir when others exist, is perjury, a class 4 felony in Arizona.⁵ Beyond the criminal exposure, an heir wrongfully left out can bring a civil action against you for the value of what they should have received.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-3971 – Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit; Ownership of Vehicles; Affidavit of Succession to Real Property
2
Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Small Estate Affidavit
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2102 – Intestate Share of Surviving Spouse
4
The Judicial Branch of Arizona – Mohave County Courts. Filing Fees
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-2702 – Perjury; Classification