Cost context
Opening a probate case costs $149. The personal-property affidavit route does not require a court filing.
$149 is the recorded statewide amount.
Arizona route screening
Arizona small-estate limit: $200,000
The personal-property route uses a $200,000 ceiling after 30 days, measured after liens and encumbrances. A separate real-property affidavit uses a $300,000 ceiling after six months.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
Threshold evidence and currency
What the reviewed source establishes
Currency: No later session-law supersession is recorded in the reviewed source set for this threshold. The edition/currentness label below is the basis for the published figure.
Controlling citation: A.R.S. § 14-3971 — Publisher edition or amendment label not stated; verified September 15, 2026.
Verbatim threshold text from that source:
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.
What the Arizona amount screen counts
The headline limit is not a count of everything the person owned. It is a test of the property and deductions named by this procedure. Classify title and beneficiary status first; property that transfers by a valid survivorship right, beneficiary designation, or funded trust follows its own transfer path.
This reviewed route is limited to personal probate property. A house or other real property is not transferred through this screen, even when the personal-property total is below $200,000. Open the deed and the receiving court’s real-property instructions before assuming the simplified procedure resolves the whole estate.
The reviewed value basis subtracts enforceable liens and encumbrances. Enter the asset value and the lien separately. An unsecured bill is not a lien against an asset unless this state separately requires it as an input.
Timing and facts the threshold cannot answer
The reviewed route requires 30 days after death before the affidavit or petition can be used. That is a minimum timing condition, not a promise that the institution or court completes the transfer on that day.
What does not qualify for this route
- An estate above $200,000 does not qualify for this value-based route, unless the separately described alternate route applies.
- Real property is outside this route’s scope; the affidavit or statement does not transfer a house or other real estate.
- Filing before 30 days have elapsed from death fails the reviewed timing condition.
- A pending or completed personal-representative appointment, a will condition, creditor issue, or family-rights condition can disqualify the route even when the amount appears within the reviewed rule.
Move from the screen to the official Arizona path
Assemble the death date, will status, asset titles, beneficiary confirmations, values, enforceable liens, family facts, and any prior court filing before signing anything. Then use the court publisher’s current artifact for the selected route.
- Arizona Self-Service Center — Arizona Judicial Branch
Arizona publishes no single statewide small-estate affidavit form. Superior court clerks in each county publish their own affidavit packets built on A.R.S. § 14-3971.
County surcharges are added to the statutory filing fee, so the published statewide schedule is the figure to confirm locally.
If the state publishes no statewide form, that is a finding—not a missing link. Contact the Superior Court or clerk in the proper county for its packet and current filing instructions rather than borrowing an unofficial form from another county.
Questions to resolve before relying on “likely qualifies”
- This calculator evaluates the personal-property route only.
- Funeral and last-illness expenses must be paid for that route.
- A separate wage affidavit lets a surviving spouse collect up to $5,000 of unpaid compensation immediately, with no waiting period.
- Confirm deed, account title, beneficiary, and trust ownership from the actual records.
- Confirm whether a will, prior appointment, creditor issue, or family allowance changes the route.
- Confirm the official form, fee, copy count, and filing method with the receiving court or institution.
Use this as a starting point.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
Arizona does not have one small-estate threshold; it has three different affidavits
A.R.S. § 14-3971 is titled “Collection of personal property by affidavit; ownership of vehicles; affidavit of succession to real property,” and the title is doing real work. The section sets out more than one route, with different triggers, and treating Arizona as though it had a single number misdescribes it.
Subsection A is the unusual one. Any employer owing wages, salary or other compensation for the decedent’s personal services must pay the surviving spouse the amount owing, up to $5,000, on being presented an affidavit from or on behalf of the spouse. It is available “at any time after the death of a decedent” — there is no thirty-day wait — and it requires only that no application or petition for appointment is pending or granted, or that the representative has been discharged or more than a year has passed since a closing statement was filed. A surviving spouse facing immediate bills can reach a final pay packet in Arizona faster than in states that impose a uniform waiting period on everything.
Subsection B is the general personal-property affidavit and does impose the thirty-day wait: thirty days after death, a person holding the decedent’s tangible personal property, or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock or chose in action, must deliver it to a claiming successor who presents a conforming affidavit swearing that thirty days have elapsed and that no appointment is pending or has been made.
The same section also provides an affidavit of succession to real property, which is why Arizona real estate can sometimes pass without full administration where in most states it could not. Screening an Arizona estate therefore means asking which affidavit is in play before asking whether any threshold is met.
Source: A.R.S. § 14-3971, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Arizona eligibility map
What the Arizona simplified route still requires
The Arizona threshold is one screen, not a complete legal conclusion. This map pairs the recorded ceiling with the property scope, deductions, date, and court artifact that have to be checked before relying on a likely-qualifies result.
| Question | Recorded Arizona answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Affidavit for collection of personal property | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | personal probate property only; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $200,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; No deadline is recorded here: The creditor-notice and claim-bar deadlines have not been verified to this site's primary-source standard, so no number is published. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $149 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the Superior Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Arizona uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed percentage. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Eligibility inputs
The Arizona screen is made of these inputs
A threshold is useful only when the amount is measured the way the source describes. Keep this table with the asset worksheet so an empty or misclassified field cannot look like a confirmed qualification.
| Input | Registry record |
|---|---|
| Threshold | $200,000 |
| Property scope | personal probate property only |
| Value basis | net of enforceable liens and encumbrances |
| Waiting period | 30 days after death |
| Required extra facts | None listed in the registry |
Case-file context
Keep the Arizona answer with its neighboring conditions
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Arizona descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Compensation context
Arizona uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed percentage.
Arizona uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed percentage. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Deadline context
No deadline is recorded here: The creditor-notice and claim-bar deadlines have not been verified to this site's primary-source standard, so no number is published.
- This calculator evaluates the personal-property route only.
- Funeral and last-illness expenses must be paid for that route.
- A separate wage affidavit lets a surviving spouse collect up to $5,000 of unpaid compensation immediately, with no waiting period.
Court-material note: Arizona publishes no single statewide small-estate affidavit form. Superior court clerks in each county publish their own affidavit packets built on A.R.S. § 14-3971. County surcharges are added to the statutory filing fee, so the published statewide schedule is the figure to confirm locally.
Arithmetic illustration
See the Arizona amount screen without mistaking it for a result
The recorded Arizona ceiling is $200,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $150,000 sits below the Arizona figure and $250,000 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Arizona counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Arizona ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $150,000 | Below $200,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $250,000 | Above $200,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Use the calculator for arithmetic, then verify title, timing, and the receiving court's form.
- Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
- Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
- Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
- Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.
Official material
- Arizona court filing feesArizona Judicial Branch
- Arizona Self-Service CenterArizona Judicial Branch
Arizona publishes no single statewide small-estate affidavit form. Superior court clerks in each county publish their own affidavit packets built on A.R.S. § 14-3971.
County surcharges are added to the statutory filing fee, so the published statewide schedule is the figure to confirm locally.
Source trail
Records used by this Arizona map
- A.R.S. § 14-3971Arizona Revised Statutes, Small Estates; reviewed August 7, 2026
- A.R.S. § 12-284Arizona Revised Statutes, Superior Court Fees; reviewed August 7, 2026
- A.R.S. § 14-3719Arizona Revised Statutes, Personal Representative Compensation; reviewed August 7, 2026
Controlling source
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
A.R.S. § 14-3971
Reviewed source note: 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.