Who Inherits If You Die Without a Will in Arizona

The surviving spouse takes the decedent's entire intestate estate (separate property and the decedent's half of the community property) if there are no descendants or if all descendants are also the spouse's. If any descendant is not the spouse's, the spouse takes half of the separate property and none of the decedent's half of the community property. The rest (or everything, with no spouse) goes to descendants, then parents, then the parents' descendants (siblings and their lines), then half to each side's grandparents or their descendants.

Arizona is a community property state and does not have an elective share. The surviving spouse already owns half of the community property; at death, only the decedent's separate property and the decedent's half of the community property pass by will or intestacy.

Personal property: 30 days after death, a successor can collect personal property (bank accounts, money owed, stock, vehicles) by affidavit if no personal representative has been requested or appointed and all personal property, less liens, is worth no more than $200,000; funeral and last-illness expenses must be paid. A surviving spouse can also collect up to $5,000 of unpaid wages by affidavit at any time. Real property: six months after death, successors can file an affidavit of succession to real property in the superior court if the Arizona real estate, less liens, is worth no more than $300,000 (based on the assessed full cash value); a certified copy is then recorded with the county recorder.