The Letters of Appointment or Letters of Personal Representative, as they are called in AZ, are issued by the court when the will is submitted to probate. This is done only after the death of the person. Having a will naming you as personal representative and gifting the assets to you is the first... View More

Federal student loans are forgiven when the borrower dies. Private student loans may not be and may need to be paid from the estate assets. If there is a living co-signer, the co-signer remains responsible for the debt.

Wills in Arizona do not need to be notarized. However, wills must be signed by the decedent and by two witnesses to the will. Additional protections are given if it is also notarized, but it is not required for a valid will.

The executor can make early distributions to the heirs before paying all the debts. However, if the debts exceed the assets retained, then the executor could be personally liable for the difference, or the heirs could be required to return the early distributions to pay the debts.

Another heir, such as yourself, can still open probate and continue the search for the child. The estate could then hire an investigator to assist in the search. If the child cannot be found in that process, Arizona has laws that may allow the child to be declared deceased if appropriate, then the... View More

You can reference statutes in a petition by quoting the relevant portion of the statute and providing a cite in the form of "A.R.S. § 14-XXXX" after the quotation. Quoting is optional, but generally helpful to the parties and judge in understanding your position.

Recording an affidavit of death or the death certificate before recording the beneficiary deed is a good idea, but not required. You could record the beneficiary deed without doing this first, and it would still be valid.

You can make your own estate plan. There is no legal requirement that it cost any amount. However, it may not be as complete as it could be, or it may be legally insufficient. Most lawyers charge a fee for doing estate plans. There are other, non-lawyer services available too at varying costs.

Probably not. Arizona probate law does not make any provisions for fiances. Arizona does not even recognize common-law marriages in most situations.

Jointly owned property is an option for estate planning. You can also use beneficiary designations on accounts, life insurance, real property, etc. It avoids probates and you maintain access to the assets even upon the death of the joint owner. There are some downsides too like having to maintain a... View More

Arizona law lays out a priority for people who can request to be the personal representative when there is no will. It starts with the surviving spouse then other heirs (usually adult children of the deceased), the department of veteran services for vets, creditors, and lastly the public fiduciary.... View More

There are two main benefits to avoiding probate: saving time and money. The first step of probate is to get a personal representative appointed, and this usually takes between 2-6 weeks. After that, Arizona law requires that most probates remain open for at least 4 months. Closing a probate usually... View More

Arizona will recognized an out-of-state will if it complies with AZ law (generally meaning signed and two witnesses) or if it complies with the law at the time of state where it was executed, or of the law of the place where at the time of execution or at the time of death the testator is... View More