To make a will in Arizona, you need to be at least 18 and of sound mind, put the document in writing, sign it, and have two qualified witnesses sign it as well. Add a notarized self-proving affidavit at the same time and you have covered everything the probate court will ask for years from now. The rest is detail, and the details are where most homemade wills go wrong.
Who Can Make One
Arizona law lets any person who is at least 18 years old and of sound mind create a will. Sound mind is not a medical standard. At the moment you sign, you need to understand that you are making a will, have a general sense of what you own, and recognize the people who would normally expect to inherit from you. A dementia diagnosis does not automatically disqualify you; what matters is whether you met that threshold when you signed.
The Core Legal Requirements
Arizona does not recognize oral wills. The document must be written. You must sign it yourself, or direct someone else to sign your name for you in your conscious presence. At least two witnesses must then sign, each within a reasonable time after watching you sign or after you acknowledge to them that the signature is yours.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2502 – Execution of Paper Wills; Witnessed Wills; Holographic Wills; Testamentary Intent
That is the entire statutory floor. Everything else in this article either protects the will from challenge or makes probate easier for the people you leave behind.
Who Can Serve as a Witness
Arizona changed its witness rules in 2019, and this catches people off guard. For any will signed on or after October 1, 2019, a witness cannot be someone who inherits under the will, and cannot be related by blood, marriage, or adoption to anyone who inherits under the will. There is one exception: if you also sign a self-proving affidavit, this restriction does not apply.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2505 – Witnesses; Requirements; Definition
The safest practice is to choose two witnesses who have no stake in your estate and no family tie to anyone who does. A neighbor, a coworker, or two staff members at an attorney’s office all work.
The Self-Proving Affidavit
A self-proving affidavit is a sworn statement that you and your witnesses sign in front of a notary public, confirming that the formalities were followed. It gets attached to the will. When the time comes to probate the will, the court can accept it without tracking down your witnesses to testify about the signing. Years later, witnesses may have moved, lost capacity, or died, and the affidavit removes that whole problem.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2504 – Self-Proved Wills; Sample Form; Signature Requirements It also removes the witness-beneficiary restriction described above. There is no good reason to skip it.
The Signing Ceremony, Step by Step
Errors at signing are the most common reason wills get challenged. Keep it clean:
- Gather both witnesses and a notary public in the same room at the same time.
- Declare to the witnesses that the document is your will.
- Sign the will in their presence.
- Have both witnesses sign the will in your presence.
- Have everyone sign the self-proving affidavit in front of the notary, who administers the oath and affixes the seal.
Attach the affidavit to the will and put the whole package away together.
What to Put Inside the Will
Personal Representative
Name someone to manage your estate. The personal representative (sometimes called an executor) gathers your assets, pays your debts and taxes, and distributes what is left. Arizona disqualifies minors and anyone a court finds unsuitable from serving.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-3203 – Priority Among Persons Seeking Appointment as Personal Representative Always name an alternate. The person does not have to live in Arizona, though an out-of-state representative may face additional court requirements.
Beneficiaries and the Residuary Clause
Identify every beneficiary by full legal name. “My nephew” invites fights when there are three of them. List specific gifts first, then designate who receives the residuary estate, meaning everything left over after the specific gifts, debts, and expenses are handled. Skip the residuary clause and any property you did not specifically mention passes as if you had no will at all.
Guardian for Minor Children
If you have children under 18, a will is the only document that lets you nominate their guardian. Without a nomination, a court chooses one with no input from you. Name an alternate here too.
A Separate List for Personal Items
Arizona lets your will reference a separate written list that assigns furniture, jewelry, artwork, and similar personal items to specific people. The list must be either entirely in your handwriting or signed by you, and it must describe the items and recipients clearly enough to avoid confusion.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2513 – References to Separate Lists; Requirements The advantage is flexibility. You can rewrite the list whenever you want without redoing the will. Sign and date each version and keep the latest copy with the will.
Digital Access
Address digital assets: email, social media, cryptocurrency, online banking, cloud photos. At a minimum, make sure your personal representative can get into your phone. A smartphone PIN often unlocks most apps without separate logins. Store that information securely with the will or somewhere your representative knows about.
What You Can Actually Give Away
Arizona is a community property state, and that puts a hard limit on what your will can do. Property that either spouse earns or acquires during the marriage belongs equally to both spouses, no matter whose name is on the title or account. The exceptions are gifts, inheritances, and property acquired after a divorce filing.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-211 – Community Property
Your will can only give away your half of community property, plus all of your separate property (anything you owned before the marriage or received as a gift or inheritance during it). If your will tries to give away your spouse’s half of a community asset, that part is unenforceable. This is one of the most common misunderstandings in Arizona estate planning, especially when one spouse earned most of the income and assumes that makes the assets “theirs.”
Assets Your Will Will Not Control
Some of your most valuable assets never pass through the will, no matter what it says. They transfer automatically to whoever is named on the account or deed:
- Retirement accounts and life insurance (IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, and policies pass to whoever is on the beneficiary form).
- Real estate or bank accounts held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, which pass directly to the surviving owner.
- Bank and brokerage accounts with payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations, which skip probate entirely.
- Real property transferred by a recorded beneficiary deed. A properly executed and recorded beneficiary deed cannot be revoked by a will.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 33-405 – Beneficiary Deeds; Recording; Definitions
Review these designations whenever you review the will. If the will leaves everything to your children but the life insurance policy still names an ex-spouse, the ex-spouse gets the payout. The beneficiary form wins every time.
The Handwritten Alternative
Arizona recognizes holographic wills, which are wills written entirely in your own handwriting. A holographic will needs no witnesses. It is valid as long as the signature and the material provisions (who gets what) are in your handwriting. Courts can look at typed or printed portions to help establish that you intended the document to be a will.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2503 – Holographic Will
Holographic wills work in emergencies, but they create problems. There is no self-proving affidavit, so someone has to authenticate your handwriting during probate. Handwriting disputes, ambiguous wording, and missing provisions are far more common with these than with witnessed wills. If you have the time to do it properly, do it properly.
Changing or Revoking It Later
You can change or revoke the will any time you are alive and of sound mind. Arizona recognizes three methods.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2507 – Revocation by Writing or by Act
- Execute a new will that expressly revokes all prior wills. If the new will makes a complete disposition of your estate, Arizona presumes it replaces the old one even without express revocation language.
- Sign a codicil, which is a written amendment executed with the same formalities as a will, witnesses and all.
- Destroy the original by burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying it with the intent to revoke. Someone else can destroy it at your direction in your conscious presence.
Life Events That Change the Will Automatically
Arizona law revokes any provision benefiting your former spouse once a divorce or annulment is final, along with any nomination of the ex-spouse as personal representative and any provisions benefiting the ex-spouse’s relatives. The will is read as if the ex-spouse predeceased you.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2804 – Termination of Marriage; Effect; Revocation Treat this as a safety net, not a plan. Update the will after a divorce.
Marry after signing a will without updating it and your new spouse may be entitled to an intestate share of your estate, essentially what they would get if you had no will at all. The main exceptions are a will clearly made in contemplation of the marriage, or other transfers you made to the spouse outside the will.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2301 – Entitlement of Spouse; Premarital Will A similar rule protects a child born or adopted after you signed. If the will does not mention the later-born child, that child is generally entitled to a share, with the size depending on how the will treated your other children. An intentional omission is honored only if the will says so.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2302 – Omitted Children
Any change in your family composition, any major change in assets, and the death of anyone named in the will are all reasons to pull the document out and look at it. A review every three to five years is a sensible baseline even without a triggering event.
Where to Keep the Original
Store the signed original somewhere safe from fire and water, like a fireproof home safe. Probate requires the original document, not a copy or scan. Tell your personal representative where it is and give them a copy for reference. If you keep it in a bank safe deposit box, make sure the representative has legal access, because getting a court order to open a decedent’s box takes time.
If You Skip the Whole Process
Dying without a valid will means Arizona’s intestate succession statutes decide who gets your property, and the results often surprise families, particularly in blended-family situations where a surviving spouse may inherit far less than expected.13Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 14-2102 – Intestate Share of Surviving Spouse That is the reason to go through the steps above rather than leave it to the default rules.