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Start the free role checkWhy people avoid probate
Probate in Arizona is a court process: it can take months, the filings become a public record, and it adds administrative cost. Passing assets outside probate can be faster, more private, and simpler for your family — though it takes planning while you're alive.
Common ways Arizonans avoid probate
A funded revocable living Trust
Assets retitled into a revocable living Trust pass to your beneficiaries outside probate, while you keep full control during life. “Funding” — actually transferring assets in — is what makes it work.
Beneficiary, POD & TOD designations
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and many bank and brokerage accounts let you name a beneficiary (or “payable-on-death” / “transfer-on-death”), so they pass directly to that person without probate.
Joint ownership with survivorship
Property owned in joint tenancy with a right of survivorship — or, for spouses, as community property with a right of survivorship — passes to the survivor at death, outside probate. How the deed or the account is titled decides it.
Beneficiary deed
A beneficiary deed lets an owner pass real property to one or more grantee beneficiaries at death, outside probate: it expressly states that it is effective on the owner's death, is recorded with the county recorder before the death, and is revocable by a recorded instrument until then; it may name the trustee of a trust, revocable or not (A.R.S. § 33-405). Whether it fits depends on your facts and is a question for a licensed Arizona attorney.
Small-estate options
When the personal property does not exceed $200,000 net of liens, a successor collects it on an affidavit thirty days after the death, and Arizona real property not exceeding $300,000 by the assessment rolls passes on an affidavit filed and recorded six months after the death (A.R.S. § 14-3971) — simpler than a full administration.
The catch: it all depends on titling
A plan only avoids probate for the assets actually titled or designated correctly — a Trust that isn't funded, or an account with no beneficiary, can still end up in probate. Coordinating titling across everything you own is where mistakes happen. This page is general information, not legal advice; a free role check can show you where you stand, and a Arizona attorney can review your titling.
General information about Arizona law, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
- How do Arizona families pass property outside probate?
- Commonly through a funded revocable trust (A.R.S. § 14-10401), beneficiary and payable- or transfer-on-death designations, a recorded beneficiary deed for real property (§ 33-405), joint tenancy or community property with right of survivorship, and the small estate affidavits (§ 14-3971).
- What is Arizona's small-estate limit?
- The affidavit for personal property applies where the estate's personal property, net of liens, does not exceed $200,000, thirty days after the death; the affidavit for real property where the Arizona real property does not exceed $300,000 by the assessment rolls' full cash value, net of liens, not sooner than six months after the death (A.R.S. § 14-3971).
General information about Arizona law, not legal advice.