Wills are a Necessary Evil in Arizona

Wills are necessary for a reason in Arizona. If you have a blended family, you need a Will and/or Trust. As you are aware, Arizona is a community property state, but that does not guarantee you will inherit your deceased’s spouse’s (decedent’s) portion of the estate if you are intestate (without a Will). If you are married, you do not automatically receive your spouse’s portion of the estate. If you do not have a Will and/or Living Trust in place, you will most likely go to probate, at which time the Court will decide who gets what.

 Arizona law provides that if there is/are a surviving issue (descendant) of the decedent, the surviving spouse gets one-half of the decedent’s separate property and zero of the decedent’s portion of community property.  The decedent’s descendants get one-half of the decedent’s separate property and one hundred percent of decedent’s fifty percent of the community property. But if the decedent had no descendants or the descendants are the same as the surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse receives all of descendant’s separate property and decedent’s fifty percent of the community property (i.e., everything).

 There is also the issue of what portion of the estate the descendants receive. Not all descendants are equal. It makes a difference if the descendants are brothers and sisters, children, grandchildren, etc.

Per ARS § 14-2103, paragraph 1, all or part of a decedent’s intestate estate passes by representation to the decedent’s descendants, that estate is divided into as many equal shares as there are surviving descendants in the generation nearest to the decedent that contains one or more surviving descendants and to deceased descendants in the same generation who left any surviving descendants. Each surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one share. Any remaining shares are combined and then divided in the same manner among the surviving descendants of the deceased descendants as if the surviving descendants who were allocated a share and their surviving descendants had predeceased the decedent.

 There is also the issue of half-bloods. Relatives of the half-blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.

Confusing, yes. The long and short of it is that if you do not have a Will (and/or a Trust), you will most likely go to probate, where the Court decides who gets what.

Everybody’s situation is different. I am happy to discuss with you the different scenarios and what will work best for you so that your spouse, family members, or, if you wish, friends, charities or whomever, receive your inheritance without having the Court decide for you.