Wills and probate in Arizona

Signing requirements for an Arizona will

An Arizona paper will requires a writing signed by the testator, or by another person at the testator's direction and presence. For a witnessed will, two witnesses must sign within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or acknowledgment.

A separate writing can also bear on the intended disposition of property. The requirements for admissibility include the testator's handwriting or signature. The writing must describe the items and devisees with reasonable certainty.

Self-proved wills in Arizona

Arizona allows a will to be executed, attested and made self-proved at once under A.R.S. 14-2504. The testator acknowledges the will and the witnesses make affidavits, all before an authorized officer.

A will that is already attested can be made self-proved at any time after execution. The same statute again calls for testator acknowledgment and witness affidavits before an authorized officer.

A signature on a self-proving affidavit attached to a will counts as a signature on the will if needed to prove due execution. Arizona applies that rule only when due execution must be proved.

Revoking and replacing a will

An Arizona will may be revoked by performing a revocatory act on it. The testator must perform the act with that intent, or another person must perform it in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction.

A later will carries a presumption about the earlier one. When the later will makes a complete disposition of the testator's estate, the testator is presumed to have intended it to replace the previous will and to leave nothing of the earlier document operating beside it.

Intestacy when no will controls

Under Arizona intestacy law, a surviving spouse takes half of the intestate separate property in one situation. That situation arises when the decedent has surviving issue who are not also the spouse's issue. In that situation the spouse takes none of the decedent's half of community property.

With no surviving descendant, intestate property not passing to a surviving spouse goes to the decedent's parents equally or to the surviving parent. If there is no descendant or parent, intestate property not passing to a surviving spouse goes to the parents' descendants by representation.

A decedent may use a will to expressly exclude or limit the right of a person or class to succeed to property passing by intestate succession.

Homestead allowance for a spouse or children

A decedent's surviving spouse is entitled to a homestead allowance of $18,000. With no surviving spouse, each minor or dependent child is entitled to $18,000 divided by the number of such children.

The homestead allowance is chargeable against any benefit or share passing to the surviving spouse or to a minor or dependent child. The charge applies to transfers by will, by nonprobate transfer, or by intestate succession, unless otherwise provided.

Transfer-on-death deeds and accounts

Arizona treats a nonprobate transfer-on-death provision as nontestamentary. The provision may sit in an insurance policy, pension plan, IRA, trust, deed or account agreement, and it needs no will formalities. The statute does not limit creditors' rights under other state laws.

The conditions for an Arizona beneficiary deed appear in the list below, after the pay-on-death rule.

On the death of the sole party or last survivor of a pay-on-death account, the sums on deposit belong to the surviving beneficiaries, in equal and undivided shares if two or more survive. A pay-on-death designation on a multiple party account without right of survivorship is ineffective, and a tenancy-in-common designation establishes that there is no survivorship.

• A beneficiary deed is valid only if it is executed and recorded as provided by law in the county recorder's office of the county where the property is located before the owner's death.
• If an owner executes and records more than one beneficiary deed for the same real property, the last one recorded before the owner's death is the effective deed.
• If the last surviving owner did not execute the beneficiary deed, the transfer lapses and the deed is void.

Common questions