See who inherits an estate in Arizona when there is no will, under A.R.S. Sec. 14-2102 and 14-2103.
The value that would pass by intestacy: the decedent's separate property, or the decedent's one-half of community property.
Arizona is a community property state. The surviving spouse always keeps their own one-half of community property. This calculator looks only at the decedent's share.
Count all of the decedent's children. If a child has died, their own children take that share.
Surviving spouse
Children or other heirs
This is a general illustration of Arizona intestate succession, not legal advice. Real estates can involve half-relatives, deceased descendants, representation and other facts that change the shares.
Without a will, Arizona law decides who inherits. With a valid will you name the people and shares yourself.
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Create your will nowIntestate succession is the set of rules that decides who inherits when a person dies without a valid will. In Arizona these rules live in the Arizona Revised Statutes, mainly A.R.S. Sec. 14-2102 for the surviving spouse and A.R.S. Sec. 14-2103 for everyone else. The statute, not your wishes, controls the outcome, so the result can be very different from what the deceased would have chosen.
Arizona is a community property state. Most assets a married couple builds up during the marriage are community property, owned one-half by each spouse. The surviving spouse always keeps their own one-half of the community property, no matter what. Intestate succession only touches the decedent's own half of the community property plus the decedent's separate property, which is generally what someone owned before marriage or received by gift or inheritance.
Under A.R.S. Sec. 14-2102, a surviving spouse takes the entire intestate estate when there are no descendants, or when every descendant of the decedent is also a descendant of that spouse. The result changes for a blended family. If the decedent leaves one or more descendants who are not also the surviving spouse's, the spouse receives one-half of the separate property and no interest in the decedent's half of the community property. The decedent's descendants take the other half of the separate property plus the decedent's entire half of the community property, in equal shares.
When there is no surviving spouse, A.R.S. Sec. 14-2103 sends the estate to the decedent's descendants in equal shares. If there are no descendants, it passes to the decedent's parents, and if no parent survives, to the descendants of the parents, which means the decedent's siblings and their children. The statute continues down the family tree from there.
The only reliable way to control who inherits is to leave a valid will. Arizona recognizes a handwritten (holographic) will when its material provisions and the signature are in the maker's own handwriting, with no witnesses required. A clear will lets you name your heirs, set the shares, and provide for people the intestacy statute would leave out.
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