Dying Without a Will in Arizona: Who Inherits? (2026)

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If you die in Arizona without a valid will, you do not get to decide who inherits your money, your home, or your belongings. The state decides for you, using a fixed set of rules called intestate succession. Those rules do not care what you would have wanted, whether a child needs more help than the others, or whether a stepchild has been like family for decades.

Arizona is also a community property state, which makes its intestacy rules different from what many people assume. The outcome for a surviving spouse can change dramatically depending on whether all of your children are also that spouse's children. This guide walks through exactly who inherits when there is no will, and how a handwritten (holographic) will lets you replace these default rules with your own wishes.

What "dying intestate" means in Arizona

Dying intestate simply means dying without a legally valid will. When that happens, an Arizona probate court distributes your estate according to Arizona Revised Statutes, not according to any note, verbal promise, or family understanding.1 Only your probate assets pass this way. Property with its own beneficiary designation, such as life insurance, retirement accounts, or an account held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, passes directly to the named person and skips the intestacy rules entirely.

Community property, in one sentence: In Arizona, most property that you and your spouse acquire during the marriage is community property, and your spouse already owns one half of it. Intestacy only distributes your half of the community property plus your separate property (things you owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance).

If you leave a spouse and children

This is where Arizona surprises people. Under A.R.S. Section 14-2102, the result depends entirely on whose children they are.2

If you have no surviving descendants, or if every one of your surviving descendants is also a descendant of your surviving spouse, your spouse inherits your entire intestate estate. Nothing passes to anyone else.2

But if you leave one or more descendants who are not also children of your surviving spouse (for example, a child from an earlier relationship), the split changes. Your spouse receives one half of your separate property and no share of your half of the community property. The rest passes to your descendants.3 A blended family without a will can therefore produce a very different outcome than the couple ever intended.

Your situation at deathWho inherits (no will)
Spouse, no descendantsSpouse takes the entire intestate estate
Spouse, all children are also the spouse's childrenSpouse takes the entire intestate estate
Spouse, plus a child from another relationshipSpouse takes half of your separate property and none of your community property half; descendants take the remainder
Children, no spouseChildren (descendants) take everything, by representation
No spouse, no descendantsParents, then siblings, then more distant relatives (see below)

If you leave no spouse (or no descendants)

When there is no surviving spouse, or property does not pass to the spouse, A.R.S. Section 14-2103 sets the order of inheritance. It flows to the closest living relatives first: to your descendants by representation; if none, to your parents equally (or the surviving parent); if none, to your parents' descendants, meaning your siblings and their children; and only after that to grandparents and their descendants, splitting between the paternal and maternal sides.4

Stepchildren, unmarried partners, and friends inherit nothing. Intestacy follows blood relatives and legal marriage. An unmarried partner, a close friend, a favorite charity, or a stepchild you never formally adopted receives nothing under these rules, no matter how close the relationship was. The only way to provide for them is to name them in a will.

Arizona has no spousal elective share

One point sets Arizona apart from many states that follow the Uniform Probate Code. Arizona does not have a spousal "elective share" statute. Instead, the community property system itself is treated as the spouse's protection: because a surviving spouse already owns one half of the community property outright, the law sees no need for a separate elective share to guard against disinheritance.5 In practical terms, your spouse keeps their community half regardless of your will, but that community half is the extent of the automatic protection.

How to take control with a handwritten will

You do not need a lawyer or a notary to override these default rules. Arizona recognizes the holographic will: under A.R.S. Section 14-2503, a will is valid, with or without witnesses, as long as the signature and the material provisions are in your own handwriting.6 The material provisions are the parts that name who gets what.

A short holographic will can look as simple as this, written entirely in your own hand:

Template: simple holographic will

Last Will and Testament of Jane A. Doe, Maricopa County, Arizona.

I revoke all prior wills.

I leave my home in Scottsdale and all my personal property to my husband, John Doe.

I leave my savings equally to my two children, Sarah and Michael.

I name my sister, Karen Reyes, as personal representative.

Signed: Jane A. Doe, this 3rd day of July, 2026.

Once your will is written, keep it somewhere safe and findable. Arizona even lets you deposit your will with the clerk of the superior court for safekeeping during your lifetime, so it cannot be lost or destroyed.1 Whether you live in Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, or anywhere else in the state, a clearly written will means your estate goes to the people you choose, not to whoever the intestacy formula happens to select.

Ready to put your wishes in writing? Learn the details in our guide on how to write a will in Arizona, or start building a valid Arizona will now with our simple online will tool.

Sources

  1. 1Nolo: Intestate Succession in Arizona (nolo.com)
  2. 2A.R.S. Section 14-2102, Intestate share of surviving spouse (azleg.gov)
  3. 3KEYTLaw: Arizona's Law of Intestate Succession (keytlaw.com)
  4. 4A.R.S. Section 14-2103, Heirs other than surviving spouse (azleg.gov)
  5. 5The Valley Law Group: Arizona Community Property Laws (thevalleylawgroup.com)
  6. 6A.R.S. Section 14-2503, Holographic will (azleg.gov)
Max Kuch

About the author

Max Kuch

Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for Arizona Last Will. He gathers the rules from the Arizona statutes and the leading public data, then explains them in plain, accessible language so anyone can put their wishes in writing.

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Frequently asked questions

The document you generate is a ready-to-use draft, not a will that is already in force. Under A.R.S. Section 14-2503, Arizona recognizes a holographic will as valid when the signature and the material provisions are in your own handwriting. That means you take the draft and copy the substantive parts out by hand, then sign it. Once you have done that, no witnesses and no notary are required for it to be legally effective.

Arizona law treats a handwritten (holographic) will differently from a typed one. A printed document that you simply sign would need witnesses to be valid. A holographic will skips the witness requirement, but only because the key provisions are in your own handwriting, which is what proves the document is genuinely yours. So the handwriting is not busywork: it is the exact thing that makes the will valid without witnesses in Arizona.

Arizona is a community property state, which changes how this works. Your spouse already owns one half of the community property you built during the marriage, and that half is theirs regardless of what your will says. Beyond that, Arizona has no spousal elective share: unlike most states, it does not let a surviving spouse claim a fixed percentage of your estate, because community property is treated as the protection instead. You can generally disinherit an adult child, but to avoid an accidental omission being challenged you should name the child clearly and state your intention. A short, deliberate sentence is far safer than silence.

Keep the signed original somewhere safe and tell the person you named as personal representative where it is, since only the original can be probated. A fireproof box or safe at home works, as does a bank safe deposit box (be aware access can be delayed after death). Arizona also lets you deposit your will with the clerk of the superior court for safekeeping during your lifetime under A.R.S. Section 14-2515. There is no statewide will registry in Arizona, so make sure at least one trusted person knows the location.

We strongly recommend against a single joint document. Each spouse should make a separate will. The clean way to do this is mirror wills: two individual holographic wills with matching terms, for example each leaving everything to the other and then to the children. Because a holographic will must be in the testator's own handwriting, one shared sheet cannot be in both of your handwritings at once. Separate wills also let either of you update your own will later without tangling the other's.

Yes. A will only takes effect at death, so you can revise it any time while you are alive and of sound mind. The simplest and safest route is to handwrite a fresh holographic will that states it revokes all prior wills, then sign and date it. Avoid crossing things out or writing notes in the margins of an existing will, since that invites confusion and disputes. After a major life change such as a marriage, divorce, or a new grandchild, it is worth making a new one.

No, and we do not pretend it does. This service helps you produce a clear, well-structured draft for a straightforward Arizona estate. If your situation is more involved, for example a blended family, a business, property in more than one state, a special needs beneficiary, or a likely dispute among heirs, you should have an Arizona estate planning attorney review your plan. Think of this as a solid starting point, not legal advice.

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