Arizona

Arizona probate is filed in the Superior Court of the county where the deceased lived.
Arizona has adopted the Uniform Probate Code, and offers three tracks of increasing
formality.

Informal, formal, supervised

• Informal is the default and covers the great majority of estates. The application is
  reviewed by a court registrar rather than a judge, and there is no hearing. Letters
  are issued on the paperwork.
• Formal goes before a judge, and is used where something is disputed or unclear — the
  validity of the will, who should serve, what a provision means.
• Supervised administration, where the court oversees distributions, is rare.

An uncontested Arizona estate handled informally is among the lighter processes in the country.

You may not need probate at all

Arizona's small estate affidavits are generous, and were raised substantially in 2025:
personal property up to $200,000, and real property equity up to $300,000. Personal
property generally transfers on the affidavit alone; for real property the affidavit is filed
with the Superior Court and recorded. Confirm the current thresholds — these figures changed
recently and the older ones ($75,000 and $100,000) are still widely quoted online.

Check this before opening a probate. Many Arizona estates that people assume need one do not.

Community property

Arizona is a community property state. The surviving spouse already owns their half, so the
estate is often half the size the family expects.

No state death tax

Arizona levies neither an estate nor an inheritance tax. Only the federal return can arise.

An Arizona will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and signed by two
witnesses who witnessed either the signing or the testator's acknowledgement of it. The
testator must be 18 or older and of sound mind.

Holographic wills are valid, and Arizona is forgiving about them

Arizona follows the Uniform Probate Code standard: a holographic will is valid whether or not
witnessed if the signature and the material provisions are in the testator's own
handwriting. The rest of the document can be printed — a shop-bought will form with the gifts
written in by hand can qualify.

And unlike Michigan, which starts from the same UPC text, Arizona does not require the will
to be dated. That is a lower bar, and it cuts both ways: a valid but undated holographic will
is exactly the document that causes an argument about which version came last. Date it anyway.

Make an attested will self-proving

Attach a self-proving affidavit before a notary. Arizona also permits electronic wills
executed to the statutory standard.

Community property changes what a will controls

A will disposes of the deceased's separate property and their half of the community
property — no more. Arizona couples can also hold property as community property with right
of survivorship, which passes to the survivor outside the will entirely and outside probate.
Know which of your assets the will actually reaches.

Also

• Name an alternate personal representative and waive bond.
• Consider a beneficiary deed for real estate, which transfers a property on death without
  probate and is well established in Arizona.
• Review after a marriage, divorce, birth or a move to Arizona.

Yes. Under A.R.S. § 14-3719 a personal representative is entitled to reasonable
compensation for services performed. Arizona sets no percentage.

What the court looks at

The time actually required, the complexity and novelty of the questions involved, the skill the
work demanded, the value of the estate, the results obtained, and what is customary in the
locality for comparable services. Arizona courts have been notably willing to reduce fees
they consider excessive, including professional fees, so the figure should be defensible on its
face.

Records, not percentages

Because there is no tariff, contemporaneous time records decide the outcome. A
representative who can produce dated entries showing what was done and how long it took is in a
far stronger position than one proposing a percentage of the estate. Arizona is not a state
where "5% is customary" will carry an objection.

Informal administration means nobody checks as you go

An informally appointed representative can pay themselves without a hearing, because there is
no hearing. That is not approval. Any interested person may ask the court to review the
compensation afterwards, and the burden of showing it was reasonable sits with the
representative. Agree it in writing with the beneficiaries first.

If the will fixes the figure

A will provision governs. The representative may also renounce it before qualifying and take
reasonable compensation instead, which is worth knowing where the will names a sum set long ago.

Tax

Compensation is taxable income; an inheritance is not. With no Arizona estate or inheritance
tax to offset, a family representative who is also a beneficiary is often better off declining
the fee. Ask an accountant.

An Arizona personal representative is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses
of administration, separately from compensation for their time.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, and a reasonable reception.
• Superior Court filing fees, certified letters, certified death certificates, and publication
  of the notice to creditors.
• Attorney's fees, and accountant's fees for the final Form 1040 and any Form 1041.
• Appraisals of real property, vehicles, jewellery, art and collections.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: insurance, property tax, utilities, security,
  pool service, landscaping and pest control.
• Air conditioning and irrigation kept running through the summer. An empty Arizona house
  with the cooling switched off will cook its own interior finishes, and a dead landscape is a
  visible advertisement that nobody is home. This is a legitimate preservation cost, not an
  indulgence.
• HOA assessments, which are widespread in Arizona and continue regardless.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping contents.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate — including for the many Arizona estates whose
  beneficiaries live out of state.
• Bond premiums where bond was not waived.

Normally not claimable

• The representative's lost wages, meals near home, or personal spending.
• Costs run up for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements beyond preparing a property for sale as it stands.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account and run everything through it. Under informal administration
nobody reviews your figures unless someone complains — so the log is simultaneously your
expense record and the justification for your fee.

Arizona's informal probate track and generous small estate affidavits mean many estates need
little professional help, and some need no probate at all. The case for a professional executor
is correspondingly narrow.

Consider a professional when

• Community property characterisation is unclear — a couple who moved to Arizona from a
  common law state, a second marriage, or separate property commingled over decades. Getting
  the half-and-half line wrong misstates what is even in the estate.
• The estate holds an operating business, ranch, or rental property, including
  short-term-let property, which needs managing rather than just transferring.
• There is conflict among the beneficiaries, or a will contest looks likely — which moves
  the estate from informal to formal administration and changes the cost entirely.
• A beneficiary is a minor or an incapacitated adult, so a trust runs for years and the
  court's protective jurisdiction is engaged.
• Undue influence is a concern. With a large retired population, Arizona sees a
  proportionate share of these claims, and an independent fiduciary is harder to accuse.
• The named representative lives out of state and cannot deal with a property that needs
  physical attention through the summer.

What it costs

Corporate fiduciaries and licensed Arizona fiduciaries charge a negotiated percentage or an
hourly rate, often with a minimum. Arizona regulates and licenses professional fiduciaries,
which is worth checking. Ask for the schedule in writing.

Middle ground

First, check whether a small estate affidavit or a beneficiary deed avoids probate
altogether. If not, appoint a family member, waive bond, and let them retain an attorney at the
estate's expense for the informal application.

A named representative who does not want the job can decline before appointment.