What Arizona's probate code asks of a personal representative
A.R.S. § 14-3706 gives a personal representative 90 days after appointment to prepare an inventory of what the decedent owned. Each line of it records:
- the item's fair market value on the day the decedent died;
- a label: community property or separate property;
- any mortgage, lien or other encumbrance, by type and amount.
Then the representative chooses: file the inventory with the court and give copies to interested persons who request them, or keep it out of the court file and get a copy to every heir (or, where a will was probated, every devisee) by hand or by mail (§ 14-3706(B)). The probate rules add detail. Under Rule 50, the 90 days start when letters are first issued, and a court order can change that; if the inventory goes out by hand or mail instead of being filed, the representative files a proof of notice naming the people who received it.
The value itself is the personal representative's to state. Section 14-3707 lets the representative bring in an appraiser (the statute's words are "may employ") for an asset whose value "may be subject to reasonable doubt." The appraiser must be qualified and disinterested, and the inventory names each appraiser, with an address, beside the items appraised. Nothing in these sections makes an appraisal mandatory; they make it the tool for a value that someone could question. Should a listed value turn out wrong or misleading, the fix is a supplementary inventory or appraisement showing date-of-death market value (§ 14-3708).
How it runs in the Superior Court in Maricopa County
Venue follows the decedent's domicile at death (§ 14-3201), so a Phoenix resident's estate belongs in the Superior Court in Maricopa County, where the Probate and Mental Health Department oversees decedents' estates. Self-help material from the court's Law Library Resource Center, packet PBIP4, includes an inventory form with step-by-step instructions. The instructions tell a representative that an appraiser can be hired to determine fair market value; the form asks, for each piece of real property, whether the value given is "based on appraisal"; and a filed inventory is handled as a confidential document.
When the house may not need a probate value
- Beneficiary deed. A recorded beneficiary deed that is effective on the owner's death transfers the home directly to the named beneficiary (§ 33-405).
- Small-estate affidavit. With no personal representative appointed and Arizona real property worth $300,000 or less after liens, a successor can transfer it with a real property affidavit filed with the court once six months have passed since the death; the statute lists further conditions (§ 14-3971(E)). The dollar test is applied to the full cash value carried on the assessment rolls for the year the decedent died, which for a Phoenix house is the Maricopa County Assessor's figure rather than an appraisal. The court's Law Library page on transferring a small estate by affidavit states the same limits.
An heir who expects to sell may still want a date-of-death value for income tax basis.
The community-or-separate column
The inventory's second question has two consequences. Under § 14-3101(A), the decedent's separate property and the decedent's share of community property pass by will or to heirs, while the surviving spouse's share of community property remains subject to administration until the time for presenting claims has run. And for federal income tax, community property may take a full basis adjustment at the first spouse's death under 26 U.S.C. 1014(b)(6); see IRS step-up appraisals. Classifying the house belongs to the personal representative and the estate's attorney, not to the appraiser.
On death taxes, Arizona levies none. The federal estate tax touches only estates over the year's filing threshold, which for 2026 deaths is $15,000,000 if the person who died was a U.S. citizen or resident.
Which date, and for whom: ask the estate's attorney
The inventory value is as of the date of death. In a few narrow situations, such as a family allowance or a cash gift under a will being satisfied with property rather than money, § 14-3906 looks instead to value at the time of distribution. Confirm the date and the people who will rely on the report with the estate's attorney before the appraisal is ordered.
For a Maricopa County probate appraisal, have ready
- The date of death, the date letters were issued and the case number, if a case is open.
- The parcel number from the Maricopa County Assessor and the recorded deed from the Maricopa County Recorder.
- The attorney's view on whether the house is community or separate property.
- The home's condition at the date of death and anything that changed it later, such as a cleanout, repairs, vacancy or damage.
- Who will rely on the report, and the 90-day inventory date or any hearing date.
The Arizona sections on this page were written with AI assistance for Eagle Home Appraisal Phoenix.