Find the Arizona small-estate route

A successor using the personal-property affidavit route must wait at least 30 days after the decedent's death.

For the current personal-property affidavit route, estate personal property wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, must not exceed $200,000 under the applicable statutory valuation timing.

• The valuation date differs for the closed-estate alternative in A.R.S. § 14-3971(B)(2)(b).

Under Maricopa County's current instructions, the completed personal-property affidavit is notarized and presented to the property holder rather than filed with the Superior Court.

An affidavit claiming succession to Arizona real property may not be filed sooner than six months after the decedent's death.

For the current real-property affidavit route, qualifying Arizona real property, less liens and encumbrances, must not exceed $300,000 under the statute's specified valuation method and timing.

• A debt secured by a lien on real property uses the unpaid principal balance specified in A.R.S. § 14-3971(E)(1).
• The valuation year differs for the closed-estate alternative in subsection E(1)(b).

The real-property affidavit is filed in the Arizona county where the decedent was domiciled at death, or, if the decedent was not domiciled in Arizona, in an Arizona county where the decedent's real property is located.

The personal-property affidavit must satisfy the statute's personal-representative condition: ordinarily no appointment proceeding is pending and no personal representative has been appointed, unless the closed-estate alternative applies.

• A discharged personal representative or the passage of more than one year after a closing statement may trigger the alternative in subsection B(2)(b).

The current Maricopa hub says the personal-property affidavit can be used only if the decedent lived in Arizona, while A.R.S. § 14-3971(B) states no domicile condition and describes estate personal property wherever located. This collection does not resolve whether the hub language is a statewide legal limit or an implementation instruction.

The person presenting a personal-property affidavit must be a successor entitled to payment or delivery of the property.

Under the ordinary real-property route, no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending and no personal representative may have been appointed in any jurisdiction.

• A discharged personal representative or the passage of more than one year after a closing statement may trigger the separate alternative in A.R.S. § 14-3971(E)(1)(b).

Signers of the real-property affidavit must be entitled by a statutory allowance, intestate succession as the sole heir or heirs, or devise under a valid will.

The real-property affidavit must state that no other person has a right to the decedent's described interest; Maricopa's form requests assignment documents if people with equal or greater rights assign their interests.

The personal-property affidavit must state that the decedent's funeral expenses and expenses of the last illness have been paid.

A certified copy of the decedent's death certificate must be attached to the real-property affidavit.

A normal filing fee is charged for a real-property affidavit unless the court grants fee relief under A.R.S. § 12-301 or § 12-302.

After the registrar determines the real-property affidavit is complete and issues a certified copy without attachments, that certified copy must be recorded in the county where the real property is located.

Under the ordinary route, a decedent's Arizona real-property interest is valued from the full cash value on the assessment rolls for the year of death, subject to the secured-debt exception.

Under the real-property closed-estate alternative, the cap calculation uses all estate real property wherever located and affidavit-date values; full cash value comes from the assessment year of the affidavit, while secured debt uses unpaid principal on the affidavit date.

The official sources establish September 26, 2025 as H.B. 2116's general effective date, but this source packet does not establish whether the increased thresholds govern every affidavit filed after that date when the decedent died earlier.