Settle a small estate in Arizona without probate

Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property (small estate affidavit)

Affidavit of Succession to Real Property (Affidavit for Transfer of Title to Real Property)

Surviving spouse's affidavit for wages owed

Summary administrative procedure for small estates

What counts toward the limit in Arizona

There are two separate totals. For the personal property affidavit, add up the value of all the person's personal property in the estate, wherever it is, on the date of death, and subtract liens and encumbrances (such as a car loan). For the real property affidavit, add up all the person's real property in Arizona at the assessor's full cash value for the year of death, and subtract liens and encumbrances such as a mortgage.

Law: A.R.S. 14-3971

In this state the total is counted after subtracting liens.

Source: Official page

Car or vehicle title after a death in Arizona

By law, the Motor Vehicle Division transfers the title of a motor vehicle from the person who died to the successor when you present a small estate affidavit for personal property (after 30 days) and pay the fees. MVD is then released from liability.

Law: A.R.S. 14-3971(D), 14-3972(B), 28-2055(B)

Agency

Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division (ADOT MVD)

Waiting period

30 days after the death

Fee

MVD charges its title fees.

Transfer-on-death title

At the owner's request, the title can include a transfer-on-death provision naming a beneficiary of the vehicle.

Source: Official page

Bank accounts after a death in Arizona

When one owner of a joint account dies, the money belongs to the surviving owner or owners. In a pay-on-death account, after the last owner dies the money belongs to the named beneficiary. An account in the person's name alone with no pay-on-death beneficiary is part of the estate; after 30 days the heirs can collect it with the small estate affidavit if the personal property is under the limit. Arizona law sets no separate rule for a bank to pay family without an affidavit.

Law: A.R.S. 14-6212, 14-3971(B)

Source: Official page

Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) in Arizona

Real estate (TOD deed)

Yes · Beneficiary deed

An owner can sign a beneficiary deed that transfers real property to a named beneficiary at death. It must be signed, acknowledged and recorded with the county recorder before the owner's death. It can be revoked by a recorded revocation, and a will does not revoke it.

Law: A.R.S. 33-405

Vehicle title (TOD)

Yes

Law: A.R.S. 28-2055(B)

Bank account (POD)

Yes

Law: A.R.S. 14-6212(B)

Securities (TOD)

Yes

Law: A.R.S. 14-6301 et seq

Source: Official page

Surviving spouse in Arizona

A surviving spouse can collect up to $5,000 of the person's unpaid wages from the employer with an affidavit. The spouse is entitled to a homestead allowance of $18,000, exempt property worth up to $7,000 (household furniture, cars, furnishings, appliances, personal effects), and a reasonable family allowance; these come before most claims. Arizona is a community property state.

Law: A.R.S. 14-3971(A); A.R.S. 14-2402 to 14-2404

Debts of the person in Arizona

The personal property affidavit says the funeral and last-illness expenses have been paid; the real property affidavit says those and all unsecured debts have been paid. A person who receives property by affidavit must account for it to a personal representative or anyone with a better right to it.

Law: A.R.S. 14-3971, 14-3972

Medicaid estate recovery in Arizona

AHCCCS seeks to recover what it paid for Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) members who were 55 or older. The personal representative must notify AHCCCS within three months after the death if the member was 55 or older and AHCCCS has not already filed a claim. The claim is filed against property subject to a small estate affidavit or probate, including a home owned alone or jointly without survivorship. AHCCCS delays recovery while there is a surviving spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child. An heir may ask for an undue hardship waiver; the request must reach HMS within 30 days of the date on the claim notice.

Law: A.R.S. 36-2935; AHCCCS brochure DE-810 (Rev. 07/2026)

Agency

Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Estate Recovery Program (with its contractor HMS)

Phone

602-345-1466

Official page

Official page

Who inherits with no will in Arizona

If there is no will, the surviving spouse gets all of the person's separate property and the person's half of community property, if all the person's children are also the spouse's children. If the person had a child who is not the spouse's, the spouse gets half of the separate property and none of the person's half of community property; the rest goes to the children. With no spouse, the estate goes to the children (or their descendants), then parents, then brothers and sisters (or their descendants), then grandparents and their descendants.

Law: A.R.S. 14-2102, 14-2103

Source: Official page

Death certificates in Arizona

Send a copy of your photo ID or have the request notarized, with a self-addressed stamped envelope. The state office does not accept personal checks. Some county offices also issue copies.

Where to get it

Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Vital Records (some county offices also issue copies)

Official page

Official page

Where to file in Arizona

The personal property affidavit and the spouse's wage affidavit are not filed with any court; you give them to the bank, company, employer or MVD. The real property affidavit is filed with the clerk of the superior court in the county where the person lived (or, if they did not live in Arizona, a county where they owned real property), and the certified copy is recorded with the county recorder where the property is.

Good to know in Arizona

• Arizona raised its small estate limits on September 26, 2025: personal property from $75,000 to $200,000 and real property from $100,000 to $300,000.
• Real property is valued at the assessor's full cash value for the year of death, minus liens, not at market value.
• The real property affidavit requires that all unsecured debts be paid and that no federal estate tax is due.

Changes in 2024–2026

Laws 2025, ch. 24, approved March 31, 2025, effective on the general effective date, September 26, 2025: personal property affidavit limit raised from $75,000 to $200,000; real property affidavit limit raised from $100,000 to $300,000. Maricopa County forms revised 09/26/25.

Law: HB 2116; A.R.S. 14-3971

National rules that apply in every state

Federal estate tax

• For a person who died in 2026, a federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required only if the gross estate, plus certain lifetime taxable gifts, is more than $15,000,000.
• Most estates owe no federal estate tax and do not need to file a federal estate tax return.

Law: 26 U.S.C. 2010(c)(3) (as amended by Pub. L. 119-21)

The final income tax return

• Report all income up to the date of death and claim all eligible credits and deductions.
• Someone must file the final federal income tax return of a person who died, the same way it would have been filed if they were alive.
• To claim a refund due to the person who died, attach Form 1310 (Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer).

Law: Form 1310 instructions (Rev. December 2025)

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Social Security

• Social Security retirement benefits are paid through the month before the month the person died.
• If the person had enough Social Security work credits (was fully or currently insured), a one-time death payment of $255 (or three times the person's basic benefit, if that is smaller) can be paid to a surviving spouse who lived with the person.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 402(a), 402(i)

Savings bonds

• If the person's savings bonds and other Treasury securities held directly with the Treasury are worth more than $100,000 at the date of death, the Treasury requires a court-administered estate.

Law: 31 CFR 353.71; FS Form 5336 (Rev. April 2026)

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Debts

• Debts are generally paid from the money and property the person left (the estate).
• If the estate cannot pay a debt and no one else shared responsibility for it, the debt may go unpaid.
• You may have to pay if you co-signed the loan, were a joint account holder on a credit card (not just an authorized user), or state law makes a spouse responsible for certain debts, such as in community property states or states with laws on necessary costs like health care.

Law: 12 CFR 1006.6(a)(4)

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A house with a mortgage

• For a home with fewer than five units, a lender may not call the whole loan due just because the home passes to a relative after the borrower's death, to a spouse or children who become owners, or to a surviving joint owner.
• Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-get-mortgage-information-about-a-home-i-inherited-en-217/
• Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/i-recently-inherited-a-house-the-mortgage-lender-said-its-required-to-determine-my-ability-to-repay-before-it-will-let-me-take-over-the-mortgage-loan-is-this-true-en-1939/

Law: 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(3), (5), (6); 12 CFR 1024.30(d), 1024.31

FDIC insurance on bank accounts

• After a deposit owner dies, FDIC insurance on the account stays the same for six months, unless the account is restructured.

Law: 12 CFR 330.3(j)

Medicaid estate recovery

• States must try to recover some Medicaid costs from the estate of a person who got benefits at age 55 or older: nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services.
• The 'estate' includes at least the property in the person's probate estate under state law.
• Https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/42/1396p?type=usc&year=mostrecent&link-type=html

Law: 42 U.S.C. 1396p(b)

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Death certificates

• Certified copies of a death certificate come from the vital records office of the state where the death happened, not from the federal government.

Questions about small estates in Arizona