Arizona: Small Estate Affidavit Thresholds & Procedure

Requirements one by one

Governing law

A.R.S. § 14-3971 (Title 14, ch. 3, art. 12) covers three distinct
mechanisms in one section: subsection (A) the spouse's wage-collection
affidavit, subsection (B) the general personal-property affidavit, and
subsection (E) the separate real-property affidavit of succession. §
14-3972 governs the legal effect of each and discharges the person who
relies on one.

Dollar threshold

Two unrelated caps. $200,000 for all of the decedent's personal property
statewide, net of liens and encumbrances — raised from $75,000 by a 2025
act (HB 2116, ch. 24). Separately, $300,000 for Arizona real property only,
also net of liens — raised from $100,000 by the same act — but valued
differently than personal property: the real property figure uses the
"full cash value" shown on the county assessor's tax rolls for the year of
death (or the affidavit, if later), not appraised market value. A third,
unrelated figure caps a surviving spouse's wage-collection affidavit at
$5,000.

Court filing required?

Split cleanly by track. The personal-property affidavit (and the spouse's
wage affidavit) is presented directly to the holder — no court is
involved, and nothing is filed. The real-property affidavit is different:
it must be filed with the superior court in the county where the decedent
was domiciled, or where the real property sits if the decedent lived
elsewhere, and in practice is also recorded with the county recorder — but
even then, no judge reviews or approves it; filing and recording are
administrative, not adjudicative.

Waiting period after death

30 days for the personal-property affidavit; six months for the
real-property affidavit — a real, six-fold difference between the two
tracks. The spouse's wage-collection affidavit under subsection (A) has no
waiting period at all; it can be used "at any time after the death."

Works with a will, intestacy, or both?

Both. Arizona's court self-help materials describe eligible claimants as
either a beneficiary named in the decedent's will, or — if there's no will
— an heir in a fixed statutory priority order: the surviving spouse, then
a child, then a parent, then a sibling, moving to the next category only
if no one in a higher category exists. Either way, if someone else has an
equal or greater right to the property, that person must have assigned
their entire interest to the claimant, documented by attaching the signed
assignment to the affidavit.

Does it cover real property?

Only through the separate § 14-3971(E) real-property affidavit — a
different mechanism, with its own six-month wait, its own $300,000 cap,
and its own court-filing requirement. The general personal-property
affidavit under (B) never transfers real estate, and real property's value
plays no part in that affidavit's $200,000 test; the two dollar caps are
calculated completely independently of each other.

Signature formalities

Both affidavits are sworn statements, and the real-property affidavit's
own text requires acknowledging that a false statement exposes the signer
to perjury and subornation-of-perjury penalties. Arizona court self-help
packets note that a clerk of the superior court cannot notarize the
personal-property affidavit for a filer, implying notarization by someone
else is expected in ordinary practice, even though the bare statutory text
of subsection (B) doesn't spell out a notarization requirement the way it
spells out the affidavit's required factual statements.

Protection for the bank/holder

Three separate discharges, one per track. § 14-3972(A) discharges anyone
who pays, delivers, transfers, or issues personal property under a valid
affidavit "to the same extent as if he dealt with a personal
representative of the decedent," with no duty to verify the affidavit's
truth. § 14-3972(B) separately discharges the Motor Vehicle Division when
it transfers a vehicle title the same way. § 14-3972(C) protects a
later purchaser from, or lender to, the successor with respect to real
property claimed under a recorded affidavit — giving that purchaser or
lender the same protection as someone dealing with a distributee who
received a deed of distribution from a court-appointed personal
representative. Across all three, the person who actually received the
property stays accountable to any personal representative appointed later
or anyone else with a superior right.

What trips people up

The two dollar caps and two waiting periods are easy to conflate — an
estate with $250,000 in personal property and no real estate can't use
the personal-property affidavit at all (it exceeds $200,000), even though
that number is comfortably under the real-property cap, because the two
thresholds test entirely different kinds of property and don't combine or
substitute for each other. A second trap: the real-property affidavit's
$300,000 test uses the county assessor's tax-roll value, which can be well
below (or occasionally above) a property's actual market value — a house
that would sell for well over $300,000 might still qualify if its assessed
value is lower, and vice versa. A third: the spouse's $5,000
wage-collection affidavit under subsection (A) is easy to mistake for a
scaled-down version of the general personal-property affidavit, but it's a
separate, narrower mechanism limited to wages, salary, or compensation
owed for the decedent's personal services, available only to a surviving
spouse, with no 30-day wait at all.

Common questions

Do I have to wait a set time after the death? It depends on the
track: 30 days for personal property, six months for real property, and no
wait at all for a surviving spouse's wage-collection affidavit.

Can I use this if the decedent had a will? Yes — either affidavit
works for a named will beneficiary or, if there's no will, an intestate
heir in Arizona's statutory priority order, as long as anyone with an
equal or greater right has assigned their share to you.

Does the personal-property affidavit reach the house? No. Real estate
requires the entirely separate real-property affidavit of succession,
filed with the superior court, with its own six-month wait and $300,000
assessed-value cap.

How is real property valued for the $300,000 test? By the "full cash
value" on the county assessor's tax rolls for the year of the death (or
the year of the affidavit, under the alternate track), not by an
appraisal or market estimate — and any debt secured by a lien on the
property is valued at its unpaid principal balance.

Statutes and sources

• A.R.S. § 14-3971(A) — "At any time after the death of a decedent, any
  employer owing wages, salary or other compensation for personal
  services of the decedent shall pay to the surviving spouse of the
  decedent the amount owing, not in excess of $5,000, on being presented
  an affidavit made by or on behalf of the spouse stating that the
  affiant is the surviving spouse of the decedent, or is authorized to
  act on behalf of the spouse, and that no application or petition for
  the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been
  granted in this state or, if granted, the personal representative has
  been discharged or more than one year has elapsed since a closing
  statement has been filed." —
  https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/03971.htm (accessed 2026-07-06)
• A.R.S. § 14-3971(B) — "Thirty days after the death of a decedent, any
  person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible
  personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation,
  stock or chose in action belonging to the decedent shall make payment
  of the indebtedness or deliver the tangible personal property or an
  instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock or chose in action to a
  person claiming to be the successor of the decedent on being presented
  an affidavit made by or on behalf of the successor and stating that all
  of the following are true: 1. Thirty days have elapsed since the death
  of the decedent. 2. Either: (a) An application or petition for the
  appointment of a personal representative is not pending and a personal
  representative has not been appointed in any jurisdiction and the value
  of all personal property in the decedent's estate, wherever located,
  less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $200,000 as valued as of
  the date of death. (b) The personal representative has been discharged
  or more than one year has elapsed since a closing statement has been
  filed and the value of all personal property in the decedent's estate,
  wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $200,000
  as valued as of the date of the affidavit. 3. The claiming successor is
  entitled to payment or delivery of the property. 4. The funeral
  expenses and expenses of the last illness of the decedent have been
  paid." — https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/03971.htm (accessed 2026-07-06)
• A.R.S. § 14-3971(E) — "Not sooner than six months after the death of a
  decedent, a person or persons claiming as successor or successors to
  the decedent's interest in real property, including any debt secured by
  a lien on real property, may file in the court in the county in which
  the decedent was domiciled at the time of death, or if the decedent was
  not domiciled in this state then in any county in which real property
  of the decedent is located, an affidavit describing the real property
  and the interest of the decedent in that property and stating that all
  of the following are true and material and acknowledging that any false
  statement in the affidavit may subject the person or persons to
  penalties relating to perjury and subornation of perjury: 1. Either:
  (a) An application or petition for the appointment of a personal
  representative is not pending and a personal representative has not
  been appointed in any jurisdiction and the value of all real property
  in the decedent's estate located in this state, less liens and
  encumbrances against the real property, does not exceed $300,000 as
  valued at the date of death. The value of the decedent's interest in
  that real property shall be determined from the full cash value of the
  property as shown on the assessment rolls for the year in which the
  decedent died, except that in the case of a debt secured by a lien on
  real property the value shall be determined by the unpaid principal
  balance due on the debt as of the date of death." —
  https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/03971.htm (accessed 2026-07-06)
• A.R.S. § 14-3972(A) — "The person paying, delivering, transferring or
  issuing personal property or the evidence thereof pursuant to affidavit
  is discharged and released to the same extent as if he dealt with a
  personal representative of the decedent. He is not required to see to
  the application of the personal property or evidence thereof or to
  inquire into the truth of any statement in the affidavit. ... Any
  person to whom payment, delivery, transfer or issuance is made is
  answerable and accountable therefor to any personal representative of
  the estate or to any other person having a superior right." —
  https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/03972.htm (accessed 2026-07-06)
• A.R.S. § 14-3972(C) — "A purchaser of real property from or lender to
  the person or persons designated as successor or successors in a
  certified copy of an affidavit issued under section 14-3971 and
  recorded in the county in which the real property is located is
  entitled to the same protection as a person purchasing from or lending
  to a distributee who has received a deed of distribution from a
  personal representative, as provided in section 14-3910." —
  https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/03972.htm (accessed 2026-07-06)