2410 W. Ray Rd., Suite 1 • Chandler, Arizona 85224 • 480-345-8845 • www.halaw.com Personal Representative Handbook The purpose of this handbook is to assist you in carrying out your case, whoever the decedent nominated to act as personal rep- duties as the Personal Representative (or Executor) of an estate of resentative in the Will has the right to serve. an Arizona decedent. This handbook is updated from time to time; Bear in mind, though, that just because you may have please contact us if you are not sure you have the latest version. been nominated to serve as personal representative in some- Also, please remember that this handbook is a guide; it is not in- one’s Will does not mean you have a duty to accept that nom- tended to answer every question that could come up in the admin- ination. You can always decline, in which case any alternate istration of a trust, and it is not intended to give you legal advice. candidate nominated in the Decedent’s Will would then have the opportunity to serve as personal representative. INTRODUCTION Conversely, if the Decedent died without a valid Will, the Decedent is said to have died intestate. In that case, state law What Is a Personal Representative? In Arizona, a personal (in Arizona, A.R.S. § 14-3203) controls who has the right to representative (known in many states as an executor) is the per- serve as personal representative. Roughly summarized, the son or entity appointed by the Court to administer the estate people having the right to serve as personal representative and assets of someone who has died (a decedent). In other under most intestate statutes are, first, the surviving spouse words, the personal representative has the responsibility to of the Decedent and, second, other persons who will inherit ensure that the decedent’s affairs are taken care of after death, property of the Decedent under the intestate statutes. in accordance with the decedent’s Last Will and Testament (Will), if one exists, or in accordance with state law if the de- Necessity of Probate. One of the first matters you must cedent died without a Will. determine is whether a probate is needed. Duties. The personal representative’s essential duties are If the value of all personal property held by the decedent to: at death, including cash in the bank and other accounts, ve- hicles, jewelry, etc., is valued at less than $75,000, and the net • collect the assets of the decedent, equity in real property owned by the decedent is valued at • pay any outstanding bills or creditors that need to less than $100,0001, then court involvement can be avoided be paid, and entirely, and the estate can be administered quickly and in- • distribute the decedent’s assets to whomever is expensively through a simple affidavit process. supposed to receive them under the Will (or, if no If, however, the value of the estate exceeds the above fig- Will exists, under state law). ures, then a probate will be necessary in order to administer While that may not sound overly complicated, there are the decedent’s affairs. many issues a personal representative must address once he or she is appointed by the Court. FIRST THINGS FIRST Acting as a personal representative can be simple or com- plicated, depending largely on whether the Decedent’s assets As mentioned earlier, after the priority of appointment are fairly straightforward and simple, or the decedent owned has been established, you need to decide whether you want complex assets at death, such as business interests or real es- to accept the role. Being nominated as personal representa- tate in multiple states. tive in a Will is an honor; the nomination implies that the de- cedent held you in high regard. Who Will Serve? Who has the right to serve as personal representative will depend on whether the decedent left a At the same time, acting as personal representative in- Will. If the decedent died with a valid Will in place at the time volves considerable responsibility; if you make a mistake in of passing, the decedent is said to have died testate. In that handling the decedent’s affairs, you can be held personally 1 For this purpose, the “value” of the real estate is based on its assessed value for real property tax purposes, not its “fair market value,” less any liens or encumbrances against the real property. For example, if the assessed value of a house for property tax purposes is $200,000 and the property has mort- gages against it totaling $125,000, the “net equity” for purposes of whether a probate is required is $75,000 or $25,000 under the $100,000 limit. Updated 1/13/2020 PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE HANDBOOK 2 liable by the decedent’s heirs2 and creditors for any damages probate has been opened and (b) provide such heirs and de- that your mistake causes. While most estates are not difficult visees with a copy of the Will in a “testate” probate. In an to administer, if the assets owned by the decedent at death “intestate” proceeding there is no Will to provide a copy. are especially complex, or the heirs or other parties involved In a formal probate, the notice of appointment need not do not get along well, acting as personal representative can be given to anyone who was given notice of the initial appli- be an onerous and thankless job. Before agreeing to serve, cation for formal probate, and who as a result has already you should carefully consider the circumstances and whether been given an opportunity to object. In all other cases, the no- you are up to the task. tice must also notify those heirs and devisees that they have You should also bear in mind that it is a rare estate that a limited period of time to object to the appointment of the requires immediate action. While sometimes loved ones feel personal representative or to the admission of a particular compelled to begin the probate process immediately, in most Will as the decedent’s valid Last Will and Testament. cases there is no need to rush. Family members should gen- erally take whatever time they need to grieve the decedent’s GATHERING ASSETS passing before turning to legal matters. After all, you have no duties to anyone (nor power to do anything with the dece- Initially, you (as the personal representative) must iden- dent’s assets) until you are officially appointed to the position tify and collect the assets of the decedent’s estate and protect by the Court. those assets from harm. For example, you may need to secure the decedent’s primary residence to protect it against vandal- ism or to prevent family members from removing items from OPENING THE PROBATE the home. If you decide to serve as personal representative, you Identifying the decedent’s assets may not be an easy task, need to be officially appointed to the position by the Court of particularly if the decedent did not retain good records. You the county in which the decedent resided at the time of death. may also have to spend considerable time poring over the de- That is accomplished by filing with the local Probate Court a cedent’s bank and other account statements to determine pleading called an Application for Informal Probate of Will and where the decedent’s monies were kept. You will also need Appointment of Personal Representative. Alternatively, in the to inspect the contents of safe deposit boxes and locate life case of an intestate decedent, the pleading is called an Appli- insurance policies and retirement plans. In many instances, cation for Informal Appointment of Personal Representative. Both copies of the decedent’s income tax returns can be a good pleadings initiate what is called an “informal probate.” source of information to identify assets and accounts that the If certain heirs or creditors of the estate may become ad- decedent owned. versarial during the process, or there is a question as to You must be able to account for all of the decedent’s as- whether a certain document is in fact the “last” Will of the sets as they existed on the date of the decedent’s death. You decedent, you may instead apply for a “formal probate.” This must then be able to determine what the value of the dece- will also be true if the original of the decedent’s Will cannot dent’s estate was as of that date. For bank and investment ac- be located and you need to probate a copy of a Will. counts, determining value is easy. However, for many other The differences between an informal probate and a formal kinds of assets, professional appraisals might need to be ob- probate are fairly significant. tained. This course of action is essential not only when you For example, an informal probate rarely requires a hear- cannot determine how much a particular asset is worth; it ing prior to the appointment of the personal representative. may be required if an estate tax return must be filed. For ex- In most informal probates, the Probate Registrar issues a Let- ample, if the decedent’s estate has a value greater than that ter of Personal Representative immediately upon filing the ap- which can pass free of estate taxes ($11.4 million for an indi- propriate paperwork and the original Will. vidual in 2019), an estate tax return must be filed, accompa- nied by professional appraisals of assets. In a formal probate, a hearing will first have to be held with the Court to verify that the Will left by the decedent was In addition, regardless of whether an estate tax return is in fact the decedent’s Last Will and Testament or to verify required, you must prepare and submit to heirs, within 90 that the decedent died without a valid Will in place.