Arizona wills: Last will and testament requirements

Arizona last will and testament requirements

Here are the requirements for a valid will in Arizona:

• You must be at least 18 years old.
• You must be of sound mind. This means that you:
  • Understand what it means to make a will
  • Understand the nature and extent of your property and relationships
  • Are capable of making reasonable judgments about the matters your will controls (for example, naming a guardian for your minor children)
• Your decision to execute your will must be free and voluntary. It can’t be the result of improper persuasion, coercion, or restraint.
• You must sign your will in the presence of at least two witnesses, who also sign. Your witnesses must be at least 18 years old and mentally competent.
  • For any will executed on or after October 1, 2019, your witnesses can’t be anyone you’ve listed as a beneficiary in your will, or anyone related to your beneficiaries by blood, marriage or adoption. For example, if you named your brother as a beneficiary in your will, your brother’s adult daughter (your niece) can’t be one of your witnesses. This requirement doesn’t apply to wills that have been made “self-proving” — we’ll go over what that means below.
• Your will must be in writing. This means it exists in a physical form. For example, a will “in writing” can be one you’ve written by hand, or one you’ve typed on a computer and printed. A digital copy, like a PDF of your will saved on your computer, isn’t considered valid.

In July 2019, Arizona began allowing the use of electronic wills, which you can execute and witness remotely.

Do you need to notarize your will in Arizona?

No — in Arizona, you don’t need to notarize your will to make it valid. However, you’ll need a notary if you want to make your will self-proving. When a will is self-proving, the court can accept your will without needing to contact your witnesses to prove its validity. This can speed up the probate process.

To make your will self-proving, you must include a self-proving affidavit. In it, you and your witnesses state that your will was signed by you in the witnesses’ presence, and that you’ve declared it to be your will. Your self-proving affidavit must be signed (or acknowledged) by both you and your witnesses in front of a notary, who will then notarize the affidavit.

Are holographic wills legal in Arizona?

Yes — the state of Arizona accepts holographic wills (also called handwritten wills). For your holographic will to be valid, the section of your will that lists your beneficiaries and their gifts must be written in your handwriting. You also need to sign your will. As long as you follow these two requirements, you don’t need witnesses for a holographic will. However, if you think someone may challenge the validity of your will, it’s a good idea to have them anyway.

Estate attorneys generally don’t recommend making a holographic will. They can be difficult to prove valid in court, and they may contain errors or unclear wishes. Learn more about the pitfalls of holographic wills, and alternative options you can use instead.

Arizona will executor requirements

Your executor — called a “personal representative” in Arizona — is the person responsible for managing your probate estate and carrying out the wishes described in your will. They will work with the probate court to pay your debts and distribute your assets to the beneficiaries of your will.

You can use your will to name the person you’d like to be your executor. For them to be accepted by the Arizona court, they must be:

• At least 18 years old
• Of sound mind
• Deemed “suitable” by the court

In many states, people who have felony convictions aren’t allowed to serve as your executor, but Arizona doesn’t have this restriction.

It’s usually practical to choose an executor that lives in Arizona, and close to you. Arizona’s rules about out-of-state executors can be complicated. If you plan to name a representative who doesn’t live in the state, consider speaking with an attorney for advice.

Revoking or changing your will in Arizona

Revoking your will

You can generally revoke, or nullify, your will in Arizona at any time before you die, as long as you’re of sound mind. There are a couple ways you can nullify your will:

• Intentionally destroy it. You can burn it, tear it, shred it, or throw it away.
• Create a new will, and expressly state in it that you’re revoking your old will. Destroy all previous wills and codicils to avoid confusion.

Change your will with a codicil

If you’d like to make a few changes to your will, rather than revoking it altogether, you can write a codicil. A codicil is a legal document that revises your existing will. To be effective, codicils must be executed and witnessed just like a will. In Arizona, this means you must be of sound mind to make a codicil, and it must be signed by you and two witnesses.

Estate attorneys generally don’t recommend writing codicils. It can be hard to keep track of multiple documents, and codicils could make it more difficult to determine your wishes.

Additionally, you shouldn’t ever cross out or write over parts of your will. These changes add confusion and can invalidate your will. In most cases, it’s safer and easier to simply create a new one.

Probate in Arizona

Probate is the legal process of gathering the assets of a deceased person and distributing them to that person’s beneficiaries. During probate, your executor prepares an inventory of your estate’s assets and manages those assets until they’re distributed. A court oversees the process to resolve any questions and disputes, make sure your remaining debts are paid, and ensure that your property is passed on to the right people or organizations.

Here’s a high-level overview of what happens during the probate process:

1. Someone, usually your executor or a family member, files your will (if you had one). In Arizona, they have two years from the date of death to file your will.
2. The court validates your will.
3. The court appoints the executor to oversee your estate.
4. Your executor identifies your assets and debts. They also contact your beneficiaries and creditors to notify them of your passing.
5. Your executor pays any of your debts, usually with money from your estate.
6. Your executor distributes assets to your beneficiaries according to the wishes outlined in your will. If you didn’t have a will, your assets are distributed based on Arizona’s intestate laws.

If your marriage or domestic partnership ends after you write your will, any gift you assigned to your partner is automatically revoked unless your will specifically says otherwise. If you had granted them the power to act as your executor, this is revoked as well. If this happened, the court would check your will to see if you had named a backup executor (known as a “successor executor”). If you hadn’t, then the court would be responsible for assigning an executor to your estate.

Skipping probate

In Arizona, small estates may be able to skip the probate process altogether if:

• The value of all personal property is less than $75,000 (not including debts, like loans)
• The value of all real estate is less than $100,000 (not including debts, like mortgages)

To get these assets without going through probate, the heir should submit a written document, called an affidavit, to the probate court. There’s a 30-day waiting period to receive personal property, and a six-month waiting period to receive real estate.

Summary probate process

Arizona has a simplified probate process for small estates that aren’t quite small enough to skip probate entirely. This informal probate process lets executors settle the estate — including paying debts, selling property, and distributing assets — with minimal court supervision.

To qualify for summary probate, an estate’s value (not including debts) must be less than the total value of:

• Administration expenses (like attorney’s fees and appraisal costs)
• Funeral expenses
• Final medical expenses of the person who passed away
• A reasonable amount of money to support the spouse and children of the person who passed away
• The value of any remaining property

If this is the case, then the estate’s executor files a statement with the court. In it, they declare that the estate’s value is below the expenses and allowances, that they distributed the assets to the people named in the will, and that the executor sent a copy of the statement to the people named in the will.

Is Arizona a community property state?

Yes, Arizona is a community property state. Community property states consider most assets acquired during a marriage to belong to both spouses equally, regardless of who earned or acquired it. As a result, the surviving spouse is usually entitled to inherit at least some portion of their spouse’s estate, even if the deceased spouse wrote something different in their will.

To better understand Arizona community property laws, it helps to understand the difference between separate and community property.

Separate property

Separate property is property that belongs to only one spouse. This can include:

• Any assets or debts you acquire before your marriage
• Any inheritance you receive during your marriage
• Any assets specified as separate property in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement

Separate property isn’t considered community property. This means you can use your will to leave it to anyone you want.

Community property

With few exceptions, any assets and debts that you or your spouse acquire during your marriage are community property. This could be a vehicle your spouse purchased that has their name on the title, or the money you earned in your career during the years you were married. Each of you have a one-half interest in each item of community property. In your will, you're only able to choose who receives your interest in that property — the other one-half interest remains the property of your spouse.

Many people choose to leave the majority of their estate to their spouse, regardless of whether they live in a community property state. If you want to leave a significant portion of your estate to someone other than your spouse for any reason, you should consider working with an estate attorney to discuss your situation and create an estate plan to meet your needs.

Arizona intestate succession

If you die without a will in Arizona, who inherits what you leave behind? Here’s the typical order of succession, according to Arizona law:

• If you’re married without children, parents, or siblings, your spouse will inherit your entire estate.
• If you’re not married and have children, your children will inherit your estate (usually in equal shares). Under Arizona law, your “children” are defined as your blood or adopted descendants. Foster children or stepchildren aren’t legally considered your children and aren’t entitled to part of your estate.
• If you’re married with children who you share with your spouse, your spouse will inherit your entire estate.
• If you’re married and have children with someone other than your spouse:
  • Your spouse inherits ½ of the community property and ½ of your separate property.
  • Your children inherit your half of the community property and the other ½ of your separate property.
• If you’re not married and have no children or immediate family (parents or siblings), then your estate will be divided among any living extended family. This includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
• If the court can’t find any living relatives by blood or marriage, the state of Arizona will inherit your property as a last resort.

Arizona’s laws about intestate succession can be complicated. You can learn more about them on the Arizona State Legislature website.

When you die without a will, you leave important decisions about your legacy in the hands of your local court and state laws. Learn more about how dying without a will can impact the people you love.

Estate and inheritance tax in Arizona

There are two types of taxes that could affect your estate and your heirs after you pass away: estate tax and inheritance tax. Some people refer to these as “death taxes.”

Arizona estate tax

In the US, your estate could potentially be subject to estate taxes at both the state level and the federal level. However, like most states, Arizona doesn’t collect any estate taxes. (Only a few states do.)

For federal estate tax, the 2023 US federal estate tax exemption is $12.92 million for individuals and $25.84 million for married couples. This means your estate won’t owe any federal estate tax if your property is valued below this amount. If there’s no change in the tax laws, at the end of 2025, the exemption threshold will drop to $5 million (adjusted for inflation) for individuals once the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires. You should take this into consideration when planning your estate.

Arizona inheritance tax

Inheritance tax is a tax someone has to pay when they inherit property or assets from an estate. Arizona doesn’t collect inheritance tax, and neither does the US federal government.

How to make a will in Arizona

If you don’t have a last will and testament, now is a great time to make one — and the process might be easier than you think. Here are the steps to write a will:

1. Decide how you’re going to write your will. For example, depending on your situation, you might choose to buy a will kit, use an online will template, or hire a lawyer.
2. Choose beneficiaries for all your assets. Beneficiaries are the people or organizations you want to inherit your property after you die. If you want, you can also donate to a charity in your will.
3. Choose guardians for your minor children or pets, if you have them.
4. Choose your will executor. This person will work with the probate court to carry out the wishes in your will.
5. Sign and witness your will according to Arizona law (that’s two witnesses who are at least 18 years old).
6. Store your will somewhere safe.

If you use FreeWill’s free online will-making software to write your will, our questionnaire takes you through each step of the process. After you’ve finished, it provides you with a document reflecting your wishes, along with instructions for how to sign and witness it to make it valid in Arizona. Everyone’s situation is unique, so if you have any questions or concerns about your will, consider meeting with an estate attorney.