Arizona timeline
The simplified route starts 30 days after death.
That clock is one condition among several, and it is not the whole estate timeline. The deadlines that carry the most risk are creditor deadlines, and in Arizona they are not verified to this site’s standard, so none is published below.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
The affidavit for collection of personal property route requires 30 days to elapse from the date of death. This is a precondition: the affidavit or petition cannot be presented before it runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.
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.A.R.S. § 14-3971 — Arizona State Legislature; verified September 15, 2026.
The creditor-notice and claim-bar deadlines have not been verified to this site's primary-source standard, so no number is published.
These are the deadlines with the largest consequences on this page. Publishing a notice starts a period after which most claims are barred; missing a required notice can extend an estate’s exposure and, in some circumstances, the personal exposure of the person administering it. A number that is wrong by a few days is materially worse than no number at all, which is why none is given.
Read this: A.R.S. tit. 14, ch. 3, art. 8 (creditors' claims). The probate clerk in the county of filing can also state the local practice, which sometimes differs from the bare statutory minimum.
Until then, the safe default is the one every source agrees on: do not distribute property, and do not pay non-priority debts, before the claim position is settled.
Most states set a flat outer bar. A.R.S. § 14-3803(A)(1) sets an additive one: claims arising before death are barred unless presented within the earlier of “two years after the decedent’s death plus the time remaining in the period commenced by an actual or published notice pursuant to section 14-3801, subsection A or B,” or the notice periods themselves under (A)(2).
The notice periods are set out in § 14-3801. At the time of appointment the personal representative must publish notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, announcing the appointment and the representative’s address, and requiring claims within four months after the date of first publication. Known creditors must additionally be given written notice by mail or other delivery, and they have the later of four months after the published notice or sixty days after the mailing.
Two consequences follow. A known creditor mailed notice late in the publication window gets the sixty-day tail rather than the remains of the four months, so the representative cannot shorten a known creditor’s time by delaying the letter. And because § 14-3801(C) provides that the representative “is not liable to a creditor or to a successor of the decedent for giving or failing to give notice under this section,” the sanction for skipping notice is the longer exposure in § 14-3803, not personal liability.
Arizona’s bar runs against the estate, the personal representative, and the heirs and devisees. Unlike Montana and North Dakota, the Arizona text does not extend it to nonprobate transferees.
Source: A.R.S. §§ 14-3801, 14-3803, 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 timeline decision map
The Arizona waiting period is only one condition. Use this map to separate the route clock from creditor deadlines, asset scope, court costs, and the documents needed to move from screening to filing.
| 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. |
Clock ledger
The creditor-notice and claim-bar deadlines have not been verified to this site's primary-source standard, so no number is published. Read A.R.S. tit. 14, ch. 3, art. 8 (creditors' claims) and ask the Superior Court which notice and claim rules apply.
Case-file context
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.
Arizona has separate affidavit procedures for personal and real property, with different limits and waiting periods.
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.
Opening a probate case costs $149. The personal-property affidavit route does not require a court filing.
$149 is the recorded statewide amount.
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.
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
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
Official material
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
The order in which an estate is actually worked — secure property, confirm title and beneficiary designations, identify the court route, notify and account, then close — is the same everywhere and carries no citation, so it is set out once rather than repeated on each state’s page. Read it inthe executor’s first week, and seehow long probate takes for how the phases stretch in practice.
What is jurisdiction-specific is above: the Arizona periods, the event each one runs from, and the source each was read in.
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.