Probate and estate bonds in Arizona

• The will does not expressly waive the bond, which leaves section 14-3603(A) operating by default.
• An heir or devisee declines to file a written waiver. The waiver route under section 14-3603(A) needs all of them.
• An interested person petitions under section 14-3603(B) with reasonable proof that their interest is in danger of being lost during administration — a petition open even to an heir or devisee who waived the bond.
• The bond was excused because the petition alleged the estate qualified for summary procedures, but the inventory and appraisal show it does not. Section 14-3603(C) then requires a bond promptly.

Section 14-3603(A) lists four routes past the requirement. The will expressly waives the bond. Every heir, where no will is probated, or every devisee, under a will with no waiver provision, files a written waiver — and a guardian or conservator may waive for a ward or protected person, unless that guardian or conservator is itself the personal representative. The representative is one of the institutions the subsection names, among them a national bank, a savings and loan authorised to conduct trust business, a trust company certified by the state, and the public fiduciary. Or the petition alleges the estate's probable value qualifies for summary procedures under section 14-3973 and the surviving spouse, or the spouse's nominee, is the applicant. None of the four is final. Section 14-3603(B) lets the court order a bond anyway on the petition of an interested person who shows reasonable proof that their interest is in danger of being lost during administration, and an heir or devisee who signed a waiver may still bring that petition.

Two situations need separating here, because they are governed by different sections. Where the decedent was domiciled elsewhere and no local administration or application is pending in Arizona, section 14-4204 lets a domiciliary foreign personal representative file certified copies of the appointment, and of any official bond already given, with a court in an Arizona county where the decedent's property is located. Note what that section does not do: it sets no bond amount. County forms circulate summarising it as requiring a bond equal to the value of the Arizona property or the bond posted in the state of domicile, and no such figure appears in the statutory text — treat that as local practice to confirm with the court rather than as the rule. Where the estate is an Arizona administration and the person serving simply lives out of state, the sections above turn on the will and the waivers rather than on the representative's residence, and none of them addresses residency separately. That is not the same as a rule that residency is irrelevant: a representative with no Arizona presence is exactly the kind of fact an objector would put before the court under section 14-3603(B). Confirm the position with the court handling the file, and call us if you want the bond priced either way.

Arizona has routes outside full administration, and these figures sit in the statute rather than being indexed. Section 14-3971 allows collection of personal property by affidavit where the decedent's Arizona personal property, valued at the date of death less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $200,000, beginning 30 days after the death. The same section allows an affidavit of succession to real property where the Arizona real property, valued the same way, does not exceed $300,000, and that affidavit cannot be filed sooner than six months after the death. It also permits up to $5,000 of unpaid wages to be paid to a surviving spouse. Separately, section 14-3973 permits a summary administrative procedure where the inventory and appraisal show the estate's value, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the allowance in lieu of homestead, exempt property, the family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness — a test built from categories rather than from a dollar figure.

Tell us the bond amount the court set and we will place it. Most Arizona files are issued the same day once the application is in.

• Probate bonds in California — Bond is the default unless the will or every beneficiary waives it, and the court can still require one for good cause.
• Probate bonds in Texas — A will can dispense with the bond where the court finds the executor qualified, and the amount is built from personal property rather than land.
• Probate bonds in New York — The Surrogate's Court counts eighteen months of rents in the bond, and a non-domiciliary executor can be required to post one even where the will excuses it.
• Probate bonds in Michigan — No bond is required in an informal proceeding, until a beneficiary or creditor over the threshold files a written demand — which needs no court finding.
• Probate bonds in Pennsylvania — A bond is required before letters issue, and the section 3174 exemptions are conditioned on the personal representative living in Pennsylvania.

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