Arizona trust & estate planning
Probate can take from your family — and 6 to 12 months of their lives.
If your home and accounts are only in your name, the Arizona courts decide what happens to them. Most families find out after it is too late to fix. Yours does not have to.
What probate actually is
When someone passes away with assets only in their own name, Arizona requires a court process — probate — before anything reaches the family. The court appoints a representative, creditors get four months to make claims, everything gets inventoried and appraised, and the attorneys are paid from the estate. It is public record, it commonly runs 6 to 12 months, and your family carries it while they are grieving.
The part nobody tells you
Probate is optional. Families who plan ahead route around it entirely — through living trusts, beneficiary deeds, and account designations that cost a fraction of what probate does. A revocable living trust, for example, is typically a one-time $1,500 to $3,000. The courts get nothing, and your family gets everything, privately, in weeks instead of a year.
How Heirworth works
See your exposure
The calculator shows what probate would cost your family, from published Arizona fee schedules.
Talk for 15 minutes
A free call — no documents to bring, no obligation. You leave knowing the one gap in your plan, even if we never speak again.
Get matched
If you want it handled, we connect you with licensed Arizona professionals who do the legal work.