A routine Arizona informal probate takes about six to twelve months from the day the application is filed to the day the estate closes. The floor is set by statute: creditors get four months from the first published notice to file claims, and a personal representative cannot file a closing statement until at least four months after appointment. This guide walks through every stage of the Arizona probate timeline, the exact statutory clocks that control it, what makes an estate take longer, and the faster alternatives that let many Arizona families skip probate entirely.
Key Takeaways
- Most uncontested Arizona informal probates close in six to twelve months. Formal probate — where a judge must resolve a dispute — commonly runs a year or longer.
- Two clocks set the legal minimum: the four-month creditor claim period under A.R.S. § 14-3801 and the rule that a closing statement may be filed no earlier than four months after appointment under A.R.S. § 14-3933.
- Informal probate can be opened once 120 hours have passed since death, and generally must be started within two years of death (A.R.S. §§ 14-3307, 14-3108).
- The personal representative must prepare the estate inventory within 90 days of appointment and notify heirs and devisees within 30 days (A.R.S. §§ 14-3706, 14-3306).
- There is no “six-month waiting period” in Arizona informal probate. The six-month wait belongs to the small estate affidavit for real property — a different, faster process for estates under the statutory limits.
How Long Does Probate Take in Arizona?
Probate in Arizona takes roughly six to twelve months for an uncontested informal estate, measured from filing to the closing statement. The range is wide because the statutes set only the minimum. The law requires a published notice giving creditors four months to present claims, and it bars the personal representative from closing the estate sooner than four months after appointment. Everything past that minimum is administration: gathering assets, selling property, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains.
Informal probate moves faster than formal probate because there is no hearing. Under A.R.S. § 14-3301, the application goes to the Probate Registrar, who reviews it for compliance and, if the statutory requirements are met, issues Letters of Appointment without a court date. Formal probate, by contrast, requires a petition, notice of hearing, and a judge or commissioner to rule — which is why contested wills, missing original wills, and heir disputes routinely push an estate past the one-year mark.
Maricopa County handles informal probate filings at the Clerk of the Superior Court’s probate counters in downtown Phoenix and at the Southeast Regional Court Center in Mesa, a short drive from our Mesa office on East Main Street. Pinal County estates — Queen Creek and San Tan Valley addresses — file with the Pinal County Superior Court under the same statewide statutes.
The Arizona Probate Timeline, Stage by Stage
The table below lays out the informal probate process in order, with the statute that controls each stage and the clock it starts. Every deadline is counted from a specific event — the date of death, the date of appointment, or the date of first publication — so the stages overlap rather than run back-to-back.
| Stage | Statutory clock | Controlling statute | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Waiting period after death | Informal appointment cannot issue until 120 hours (five days) after death | A.R.S. § 14-3307 | Days 1–5 |
| 2. Deadline to open probate | Generally within two years of death, with limited exceptions | A.R.S. § 14-3108 | Most families file within one to three months |
| 3. Application and appointment | Registrar reviews the application; no hearing in informal probate | A.R.S. § 14-3301 | Letters issue after Registrar review of a complete filing |
| 4. Notice to heirs and devisees | Within 30 days of the statement of informal probate / appointment | A.R.S. § 14-3306 | First month after appointment |
| 5. Notice to creditors | Published once a week for three successive weeks; creditors have four months from first publication (known creditors: four months, or 60 days from mailing, whichever is later) | A.R.S. § 14-3801 | Publication starts at appointment; claim window closes about month 4–5 |
| 6. Inventory and appraisement | Within 90 days of appointment | A.R.S. § 14-3706 | Month 1–3 |
| 7. Pay claims, taxes and expenses; distribute | After the creditor window closes | A.R.S. Title 14, Chapter 3, Article 8 | Month 5–10, longer if real estate must sell |
| 8. Closing statement | No earlier than four months after appointment; appointment terminates one year after filing if nothing is pending | A.R.S. § 14-3933 | Month 6–12 for a routine estate |
Stage 3 deserves one note. Before Letters are issued, Arizona requires a non-licensed personal representative to complete the Arizona Supreme Court’s free online fiduciary training, and a bond is required unless the will waives it or every heir or devisee waives it in writing. Both are routine, but an application that arrives without the training certificate or the bond waivers gets sent back — the most common reason a “two-week” appointment turns into a six-week one.
Arizona Probate Deadline Estimator
Enter the dates you know. The estimator applies the statutory clocks above to show the earliest informal filing date, the two-year deadline, the inventory due date, the creditor bar date, and the earliest possible closing statement. It also shows when a small estate affidavit becomes available, in case the estate qualifies. This is a date calculator for general information; it does not determine whether any particular estate qualifies for any process.
Counts 120 hours as five calendar days and “months” as calendar months. Where a deadline lands on a weekend or court holiday, Arizona procedural rules generally roll it to the next court day; confirm any filing deadline against the court’s calendar.
What Makes Probate Take Longer in Arizona
Delay in Arizona probate almost always comes from one of a handful of causes, and most of them are avoidable. The four-month creditor period is fixed, but everything else on the timeline depends on how complete the paperwork is and how cooperative the estate is.
- No original will. Informal probate requires the original signed will. A copy forces the estate into formal probate, with a hearing and a judge’s finding that the will is valid.
- Disputes among heirs — a contested will, a challenge to who should serve as personal representative, or a disagreement over distribution — convert an informal case to a formal one and commonly add six months or more.
- Real estate that must be sold. The estate cannot close until the property sells and the proceeds are distributed; a slow listing can add months on its own.
- Incomplete filings. A missing fiduciary training certificate, unsigned bond waivers, or an application with an error is returned by the Registrar rather than approved, restarting the review.
- Missed statutory deadlines. Distributing assets before the creditor window closes, skipping the 90-day inventory, or failing to mail notice to known creditors can expose the personal representative to liability and reopen questions the court thought were settled.
- Tax returns. The decedent’s final income tax return and, for larger estates, estate or fiduciary returns have their own deadlines that the personal representative must clear before closing.
- Out-of-state personal representatives. Arizona allows them, but notarizations, mailings, and the logistics of clearing a house from another state slow each stage.
Informal vs. Formal Probate: Timeline Comparison
Arizona offers two routes through probate court, and the choice is usually made for you by the facts. Informal probate is available when there is an original will that no one is contesting, or no will and no dispute about who inherits. Formal probate is required when any of those conditions fail. The timeline difference is significant.
| Feature | Informal probate | Formal probate |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides the appointment | Probate Registrar, on the papers | Judge or commissioner, at a hearing |
| Hearing required | No | Yes — notice of hearing to interested persons |
| Original will required | Yes, if there is a will | Copies and lost wills can be proved |
| Typical total duration | 6–12 months | 12 months or longer |
| Court self-help forms available | Yes (Maricopa County Law Library Resource Center) | No — the court recommends an attorney |
| Document preparer can prepare the filings | Yes — the complete package | Generally an attorney matter |
The Maricopa County Superior Court’s Probate for Decedent’s Estate Resource Guide publishes the informal probate forms and instructions; it does not publish formal probate forms, which is a practical signal of which process is meant to be handled without a lawyer.
Faster Alternatives: When an Arizona Estate Can Skip Probate
Many Arizona estates never need probate at all, and the alternatives are measured in weeks rather than months. Under A.R.S. § 14-3971, a successor can collect personal property by affidavit once 30 days have passed since death if the estate’s personal property, less liens, does not exceed $200,000. Arizona real property can transfer by affidavit of succession once six months have passed since death if its assessed value, less liens, does not exceed $300,000. Those are the current statutory figures after the 2025 amendment; the text is on azleg.gov at the link above.
- Small estate affidavit: 30 days (personal property) or 6 months (real property) after death, no court case opened. Dynasty prepares the Arizona small estate affidavit package.
- Beneficiary deed: recorded during life under A.R.S. § 33-405, the home passes at death by recording a death certificate — no probate, no waiting period. See the Arizona beneficiary deed page.
- Revocable living trust: assets titled to the trust are administered by the successor trustee outside probate court. See revocable living trusts and trust administration.
- Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death bank accounts pass those assets directly, outside probate, regardless of value.
This is the reason the six-month figure confuses so many people searching for “how long does probate take.” The six-month wait is the real-property small estate affidavit rule — not a probate rule. A full informal probate has no six-month clock; it has a four-month creditor period and a four-month minimum before closing, both running from appointment and publication, not from death.
What a Personal Representative Must Do, and When
Once Letters of Appointment issue, the personal representative carries a fixed set of statutory duties on a fixed calendar. Missing one rarely voids the probate, but it can make the personal representative personally liable to an heir or creditor who is harmed. The core deadlines, all counted from the date of appointment unless noted:
- Before appointment: complete the Arizona Supreme Court’s non-licensed fiduciary training and file the certificate with the application.
- Within 30 days: mail written information to all heirs and devisees (with a copy of the will, if any) describing where the estate papers are on file and the four-month window to contest (§ 14-3306); mail notice of appointment to the Arizona Department of Revenue and known creditors.
- At appointment: publish the notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county (§ 14-3801).
- Within 90 days: prepare the inventory and appraisement listing each asset at its date-of-death fair market value, noting community or separate property and any encumbrance (§ 14-3706); either file it with the court or deliver it to the heirs or devisees.
- After four months from first publication: pay or resolve allowed claims, pay expenses and taxes, and distribute the estate.
- No earlier than four months after appointment: file the verified closing statement, send a copy to distributees and unpaid claimants, and furnish a full written account (§ 14-3933). If nothing is pending one year later, the appointment terminates automatically.
How Dynasty Legal Documents Keeps Arizona Probate On Schedule
Dynasty Legal Documents prepares and files a complete Arizona informal probate for a flat $1,200, which includes drafting and filing every document in the case; court filing fees, publication costs, and certification fees are paid separately to the court and the newspaper. As an Arizona Supreme Court Certified Legal Document Preparer (CLDP #81830 & #81440), we prepare the application, the personal representative’s acceptance and bond waivers, the Letters and Order to Personal Representative, the notices to heirs and creditors, the inventory and appraisement, and the closing documents — in the order the statute requires them.
Schedule matters more in probate than in almost any other legal document work, because every returned filing restarts a clock. The package is built so that the application goes to the Registrar complete the first time, the creditor notice is published the week Letters issue, and the inventory is on file well inside the 90-day window. For the current court fees and the complete cost comparison against attorney-handled probate, see our guide to how much probate costs in Arizona. For the service details, see Arizona informal probate document preparation.
When to Talk to an Attorney Instead
Arizona law does not require an attorney for an uncontested informal probate, and thousands of Arizona estates are administered every year by a family member with properly prepared documents. A Certified Legal Document Preparer prepares documents at your direction and provides general legal information, but cannot give legal advice, represent you, or appear in court. Some situations call for a licensed attorney from the start:
- The original will cannot be located, or anyone intends to contest the will or the appointment.
- The estate is insolvent, or creditors dispute the priority or amount of their claims.
- The estate owns a business, out-of-state real property, or assets that raise federal estate tax questions.
- A beneficiary is a minor or incapacitated adult and no guardian or conservator is in place.
Dynasty Legal Documents maintains a referral network of Arizona probate attorneys and will tell you plainly if your situation belongs with one.
Primary Sources for the Arizona Probate Timeline
- A.R.S. § 14-3108 — two-year limit on opening probate, and the exceptions
- A.R.S. § 14-3307 — 120-hour wait before informal appointment
- A.R.S. § 14-3306 — 30-day information to heirs and devisees
- A.R.S. § 14-3801 — notice to creditors and the four-month claim period
- A.R.S. § 14-3706 — 90-day inventory and appraisement
- A.R.S. § 14-3933 — closing statement, four-month minimum, one-year termination
- A.R.S. § 14-3971 — small estate affidavit limits and waiting periods
- Maricopa County Superior Court Probate Resource Guide — forms and instructions for informal probate
- Clerk of the Superior Court — Probate Filing — filing counters, claims and demands
Frequently Asked Questions About the Arizona Probate Timeline
How long does informal probate take in Arizona?
An uncontested Arizona informal probate typically takes six to twelve months from filing to closing. The legal minimum is about four to five months, set by the four-month creditor claim period under A.R.S. § 14-3801 and the rule in A.R.S. § 14-3933 that a closing statement cannot be filed sooner than four months after the personal representative is appointed. Estates with real property to sell or tax returns to clear usually land toward the longer end.
Why do you have to wait six months after someone dies in Arizona?
The six-month wait applies to the small estate affidavit for real property, not to probate. Under A.R.S. § 14-3971, an affidavit of succession to Arizona real property can be used only after six months have passed since death, when the property’s assessed value, less liens, is $300,000 or less. Personal property under $200,000 can be collected by affidavit after 30 days. A full informal probate has no six-month rule; its timing runs from the four-month creditor period and the four-month minimum before closing.
Is probate difficult in Arizona?
Informal probate in Arizona is a paper process without a hearing: the Probate Registrar reviews the application and issues Letters if the statutory requirements are met. The difficulty is in completeness and sequencing — the fiduciary training certificate, bond waivers, published and mailed creditor notices, the 90-day inventory, and a closing statement filed at the right time. Formal probate, required when a will is contested or the original will is missing, involves hearings and is where the Maricopa County court itself recommends an attorney.
How long do you have to file probate after death in Arizona?
Arizona generally requires probate to be opened within two years of the date of death under A.R.S. § 14-3108, with limited exceptions for cases such as a missing person or where no prior proceeding occurred. Informal probate cannot be opened until 120 hours after death. In practice most families open probate within one to three months, because banks, title companies, and buyers need the personal representative’s Letters before any asset can move.
Do I need a lawyer for informal probate in Arizona?
No. Arizona law allows a personal representative to handle an uncontested informal probate without an attorney, and the Maricopa County Superior Court publishes the forms for that purpose. An Arizona Supreme Court Certified Legal Document Preparer can prepare and file the complete case — Dynasty Legal Documents charges a flat $1,200, with court fees paid separately. Whether an estate has issues that require a licensed attorney, such as a will contest or an insolvent estate, is a question for that attorney.
What happens if you don’t file probate in Arizona?
Assets titled in the decedent’s sole name stay frozen: banks will not release accounts, the county recorder will not transfer real property, and the Motor Vehicle Division will not retitle a vehicle without Letters of Appointment or a qualifying small estate affidavit. After two years, A.R.S. § 14-3108 limits the proceedings that can be brought and restricts the personal representative’s powers to confirming title in the rightful successors.
What is the average cost of probate in Arizona?
Court costs are flat amounts set by the Clerk of the Superior Court, and professional fees depend on who prepares the documents. Dynasty Legal Documents prepares and files a complete Arizona informal probate for a flat $1,200; attorney-handled probate commonly costs several thousand dollars. Our guide to how much probate costs in Arizona has the current Maricopa County fee figures and the full comparison.
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