Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Arizona

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

Arizona uses two different opening documents. Section 14-1201 defines an application as a request to the registrar for informal probate or appointment and a petition as a request to the superior court for an order after notice. Informal proceedings run through a registrar without general advance notice; formal proceedings occur before a judicial officer with notice to interested persons. A formal testacy petition may also request appointment of a personal representative.

Court and venue

The statutory “court” is the superior court. The first informal or formal testacy or appointment filing belongs in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death. If the decedent was not domiciled in Arizona, any county containing the decedent's property may hear the first proceeding. When an informal filing begins in the wrong county, an interested person may seek transfer after notice to the original proponent.

Who may petition

The informal route is not open to every interested person. Section 14-3301(A) lists the surviving spouse; an adult child, parent, sibling, or heir; the will's nominee; specified people connected to a nonresident estate; Veterans' Services for a veteran; a creditor after forty-five days; and, if nobody in the earlier groups is qualified and willing, the public fiduciary.

Formal testacy is broader. Section 14-3401 permits an interested person to file, and § 14-1201's definition includes heirs, devisees, spouses, children, creditors, fiduciaries, and others whose property rights or claims fit the particular proceeding.

Petition contents

An informal application is verified as accurate and complete to the applicant's best knowledge and belief. It identifies the applicant's interest; the decedent's name, death, age, and domicile; known spouse, children, heirs, devisees, and minor ages; nondomiciliary venue; any existing representative; demands for notice; and why the filing is timely. For the will, it states the original's status, the applicant's belief in valid execution, and the reasonable- diligence basis for treating it as the unrevoked last will. A joined appointment request identifies the will and the proposed representative's name, address, and priority.

A formal petition requests a judicial testacy and heir determination. It adopts the core informal facts and the valid-execution and no-known-revocation statements, then separately addresses whether the original is with the court or accompanies the petition.

Original will, copies, and lodging

Arizona defines “original will” to include both an original paper will and a certified paper original of an electronic will. Informal probate ordinarily requires that original to be in the registrar's possession, while the application must say it is already with the court or accompanies the filing. A certified copy of a will probated elsewhere is an express alternative.

Formal probate supplies the boundary route for an unavailable original. If neither the original nor a certified foreign-probate copy is with the court or attached, § 14-3402(A)(3) requires the petition to state the will's contents and say that it is lost, destroyed, or otherwise unavailable.

Filing or production deadline

Section 14-3108 generally bars starting informal probate or appointment, formal testacy, or formal appointment more than two years after death. Its exceptions matter: a contest of informal probate may use the later of twelve months after informal probate or two years after death, and a proceeding may begin later when no succession or administration proceeding occurred during the two years, but that late route sharply limits asset possession and estate claims.

The custodian has a different clock. After death and on an interested person's request, § 14-2516 requires delivery “with reasonable promptness” to someone able to secure probate or, if nobody is known, to an appropriate court. The forty-five-day rule in § 14-3301(A)(7) is only when a creditor becomes eligible to apply informally; it is not the general probate deadline.

Proof and self-proving route

Under § 14-3303(C), an apparently signed will with an attestation clause showing statutory execution is admitted without further proof. In other cases, the registrar may assume apparent execution or accept a sworn statement or affidavit from anyone who knows the execution circumstances, even if that person was not a witness.

Under § 14-3405, an unopposed formal case may be decided on the pleadings or after an open-court hearing. If execution proof is needed, one attesting witness's affidavit or testimony is enough, with other evidence available if witness proof cannot be obtained. Under § 14-3406, in a contested case involving a non-self-proved attested will, at least one in-state, competent, available attesting witness must testify if execution evidence is necessary. A self-proved will makes signature compliance conclusive and creates rebuttable presumptions for the other execution requirements unless fraud or forgery affects the acknowledgment or affidavit.

Notice, hearing, and objections

Informal probate ordinarily has no general pre-admission hearing. Under § 14-3306, before the registrar's statement, notice goes only to a person who demanded it and an existing personal representative whose appointment continues. Within thirty days after informal admission, however, the applicant must send reasonably locatable heirs and devisees written admission information and a will copy. Receipt ordinarily starts a four-month limit to begin a formal contest, while a later-discovered will remains outside that particular bar.

Under § 14-3403, formal testacy requires a hearing date. The petitioner must notify the surviving spouse, children and other heirs, devisees and executors named in relevant wills, an existing personal representative, and anyone who demanded notice. Unknown persons receive publication notice under the cross-referenced notice statute.

Executor qualification, bond, and letters

The person given priority by a probated will, including a nominee under a power in the will, ranks first for appointment. A person below the age of majority, someone found unsuitable in a formal proceeding, and a foreign corporation are disqualified. Conflicts involving a higher or shared priority can force use of a formal appointment proceeding.

Under § 14-3603, bond is the default. It may be avoided when the will expressly waives it, all devisees file written waivers, the representative is one of the listed regulated fiduciaries or the public fiduciary, or the small-estate-and-surviving-spouse exception applies. Even then, an interested person may ask the court to impose a bond on reasonable proof that the person's interest is endangered. Under § 14-3601, before letters issue, the appointee must file any required bond and a statement accepting the office's duties.

What trips people up

• “Interested person” does not automatically unlock informal probate. The formal petition rule is broad, but § 14-3301(A) uses a specific applicant list for the registrar route.
• Arizona has three different timing ideas here. The ordinary proceeding limit is two years, a creditor waits forty-five days before applying informally, and a requested will delivery is due with reasonable promptness.
• A lost will is not just an ordinary-copy filing. The formal petition must state the will's contents and explain why the original is unavailable.

Common questions

What if the will was already probated in another state?

Section 14-3303 allows informal probate at any time on an interested person's written application accompanied by a certified copy of the will and the foreign probate statement. That is a specific prior-probate route, not permission to use an ordinary photocopy of a missing Arizona will.

Does failure to send the post-informal information invalidate probate?

No. Section 14-3306 makes the omission a breach of duty and allows liability to an heir or devisee damaged by it, but expressly says the failure does not affect the probate's validity.

Can the court require bond after the devisees waived it?

Yes. An interested person may petition for bond and provide reasonable proof that the person's interest is in danger of loss because of the administration.

Statutes and sources

• A.R.S. § 14-1201 — superior court; informal/formal proceeding, interested-person, original-will, petition, and letters definitions. Official section 14-1201 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• A.R.S. § 14-3201 — initial county venue and informal transfer. Official section 14-3201 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• A.R.S. §§ 14-3301, 14-3303, and 14-3306 — informal applicants, verified contents, original, proof, notice, and contest information. Official section 14-3301, section 14-3303, and section 14-3306 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• A.R.S. §§ 14-3401 through -3403, 14-3405, and 14-3406 — formal petitioner, contents, hearing notice, and uncontested/contested proof. Official section 14-3401, section 14-3402, section 14-3403, section 14-3405, and section 14-3406 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• A.R.S. §§ 14-3108 and 14-2516 — two-year outer limit, exceptions, and custodian delivery. Official section 14-3108 and section 14-2516 (accessed 2026-08-03).
• A.R.S. §§ 14-3203, 14-3601, and 14-3603 — appointment priority, disqualification, bond, acceptance, and letters. Official section 14-3203, section 14-3601, and section 14-3603 (accessed 2026-08-03).