You've lost someone — and you've been named Trustee.

The first week: decide, secure, and find the documents

Decide whether to accept — by the trust's method or by acting as trustee; a designee who does nothing for a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is deemed to have rejected, and may preserve the property meanwhile if a rejection follows within a reasonable time (A.R.S. § 14-10701). Find the trust instrument and every amendment, the death certificate, and any will — a person holding the will delivers it, on an interested person's request, to a person able to secure its probate or to the court (§ 14-2516). Secure the property: take reasonable steps to take control of and protect it (§ 14-10809), and keep it separate and recorded (§ 14-10810).

The notices: 60 days, each from its own beginning

Arizona counts two notices to the qualified beneficiaries from two different days. Within sixty days after acquiring knowledge that the trust has become irrevocable — for a living trust, the day the trustee learns of the settlor's death — the trustee notifies them of the trust's existence, the identity of the settlor or settlors, the trustee's name, address and telephone number, the right to request the relevant portions of the instrument and the right to a report (A.R.S. § 14-10813(B)(3)). Within sixty days after accepting, the trustee notifies them of the acceptance and the trustee's contact details (§ 14-10813(B)(2)). Both apply to a trustee who accepts, or a trust made irrevocable, on or after January 1, 2009 (§ 14-10813(E)).

Notice goes in a manner reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt — first class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the last known residence or place of business, or a properly directed electronic message — and need not go to a person whose identity or location is unknown and not reasonably ascertainable (§ 14-10109).

Arizona trustee deadlines: what the statutes provide

Reviewed against the Arizona Statutes on 2026-10-12. General information, not legal advice; the official text controls.

Taking control and listing the assets

List every asset by how it is titled. Real property in the trust was deeded to the trustee by a deed that discloses the beneficiaries and identifies the trust (A.R.S. § 33-404); accounts and securities are held in the trustee's name under the record-keeping duty (§ 14-10810). Where the settlor was married, note whether each asset was community property — acquired during the marriage, other than by gift, devise or descent — or separate (§ 25-211): the surviving spouse's half of the community property is the spouse's own. Within a reasonable time after accepting, review the assets and decide what to retain and what to dispose of (§ 14-10904).

Creditors, the estate, and the periods

Arizona's trustee's notice to creditors is optional: after the settlor's death the trustee of a nontestamentary trust may notify known creditors and may publish notice as a personal representative would — once a week for three weeks, with claims due four months after the first publication or sixty days after a mailed notice if later — and a claim not presented in time is barred against the trust, the trustee and the beneficiaries (A.R.S. § 14-6103, § 14-3801). Whether or not notice is given, the property of a trust that was revocable at the death answers for the settlor's creditors' claims, the costs of administering the estate, the funeral expenses and the statutory allowances to the extent the probate estate is inadequate (§ 14-10505(A)(3)); a creditor, the spouse or a child enforces that liability within two years after the death, after a written demand to the personal representative (§ 14-6102). Where an estate is opened, its representative's notice and the nonclaim periods are § 14-3801's and § 14-3803's.

The surviving spouse and the family

A surviving spouse is entitled to a homestead allowance of $18,000 from the estate, prior to all claims except expenses of administration (A.R.S. § 14-2402). The surviving spouse's one-half of the community property is the spouse's own and never part of the estate; where the decedent left no will as to some property, the spouse's share of the separate property and the decedent's community half depends on whether the surviving issue are also the spouse's (§ 14-2102). Money payable to a surviving spouse or child on the decedent's life is exempt from creditors up to $20,000, and a qualified retirement plan's interest is exempt however it passes (§ 33-1126).

The house

A home titled to the trust passes under the trust's terms; the trustee's deed out of the trust discloses the beneficiaries and identifies the trust (A.R.S. § 33-404). A home in the decedent's own name passes under a recorded beneficiary deed (§ 33-405), by will or intestacy, or — where the Arizona real property does not exceed $300,000 by the assessment rolls — on a successor's affidavit filed and recorded not sooner than six months after the death (§ 14-3971(E)). Arizona places no restriction on devising a home; the homestead exemption keeps a residence from creditors up to $400,000, adjusted annually (§ 33-1101).

Reports, the contest window, and distribution

At least annually and at termination, the trustee sends the distributees, permissible distributees and requesting beneficiaries a report of the property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, the source and amount of the trustee's compensation, and a listing of the assets with their market values if feasible (A.R.S. § 14-10813(C)). A trust that was revocable at the death may be contested within the earlier of one year after the death and four months after the trustee sends a person a copy of the instrument with the notice the statute describes (§ 14-10604(A)); the trustee may distribute after the death and is not liable for doing so unless the trustee knows of a pending contest or a potential contestant's written notice is followed by a proceeding within sixty days (§ 14-10604(B)). At the end, a proposal for distribution with a thirty-day objection period, and a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses and taxes (§ 14-10817).

When a licensed Arizona attorney is the right next call

TrusteeClear organizes the record and explains the statutes; it does not decide who is a qualified beneficiary, whether property is community or separate, whether a claim is barred or whether a distribution is safe, and it completes no Arizona document. A licensed Arizona attorney of your choosing can advise on those questions and prepare the notices.