Arizona Estate Planning Drafting Software for Attorneys

Arizona treats property acquired by either spouse during marriage as community property, with exceptions for gifts, devises, and inheritances. Joint trust templates provide separate distribution provisions for community and separate property, and the joint package can include a Community Property Agreement covering characterization and division of the community estate at the first death.

Arizona requires a financial power of attorney to be signed by the principal, witnessed by a qualifying witness, and acknowledged before a notary, with the witness's affidavit also sworn before the notary. Statular drafts both a general power of attorney and a longform durable power of attorney for Arizona, with the signature and notarial sections laid out for that ceremony.

The Arizona advance directive combines a health care power of attorney with living will provisions, with optional dementia directive, organ donation, and primary physician sections. A separate Mental Health Care Power of Attorney follows the Title 36, Chapter 32, Article 6 framework, including the notice to the principal.

Draft beneficiary deeds that transfer real property at death without probate, plus warranty, special warranty, and quitclaim deeds for trust funding. Deeds to a trustee include the A.R.S. § 33-404 disclosure of the trust's beneficiaries and the trust under which the trustee holds title.

Pour-over wills and standalone wills are drafted for two-witness execution and include a self-proving affidavit, so the testator's acknowledgment and the witnesses' affidavits can be completed before a notary at signing.

1. Intake with Arizona-specific prompts

Collect client and family information, fiduciary appointments, real property details, and asset information through the attorney interview or a client questionnaire. For married couples, the interview captures the information the community property provisions and Community Property Agreement rely on.

2. Trust, will, and powers drafting

Generate an individual or joint revocable living trust, pour-over wills with self-proving affidavits, financial powers of attorney, the Arizona advance directive, a mental health care power of attorney, and HIPAA authorizations from one set of interview answers, ready for attorney review.

3. Deeds and trust funding

Prepare trust funding deeds with the § 33-404 trustee disclosure, beneficiary deeds under § 33-405, assignments of personal property, a certification of trust, and change-of-ownership letters for financial accounts, plus prefilled Arizona MVD title and beneficiary forms for vehicles.

4. Attorney review and execution

Review the full package in Word, make edits, and produce an execution set with signing instructions, witness statements, and notarial certificates for each document.

Individual and joint trust templates are drafted under the Arizona Trust Code, including trustee reporting provisions keyed to the duty to inform and report under § 14-10813. A certification of trust lets the trustee prove the trust's existence and the trustee's authority without handing over the full instrument.

A written agreement between spouses addressing the default characterization of their property, joint tenancy assets, separate property, retirement assets, future acquisitions, and how the trustee divides the community estate after the first death.

Wills are signed by the testator and at least two witnesses. Pour-over and standalone wills include the self-proving affidavit so the will can be made self-proved at the time of execution.

Arizona's power of attorney statute requires a qualifying witness, the witness's sworn affidavit, and a notarial acknowledgment in addition to the principal's signature, and the instrument must show the principal's intent that the authority survives later incapacity.

A health care power of attorney must be notarized or witnessed by at least one qualifying adult. Living will provisions can be included in the health care power of attorney or executed on their own under the same verification requirements.

A separate instrument appointing an agent for mental health care decisions, with the statutory execution requirement of a notary or at least one qualifying adult witness.

Transfers real property at the owner's death without probate. The deed is valid only if executed and recorded with the county recorder before the death of the owner or last surviving owner, and it may name the trustee of a revocable trust as beneficiary.

Any Arizona deed in which the grantee takes title as trustee must disclose the names and addresses of the trust's beneficiaries and identify the trust. Statular's Arizona trust funding deeds include that disclosure.

A parent may delegate powers over the care, custody, or property of a minor child by power of attorney for up to six months. Statular drafts this alongside the nomination of a guardian for minor children.

Collection of personal property by affidavit is available 30 days after death when personal property, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $200,000. A separate affidavit of succession to real property is available six months after death for Arizona real property up to $300,000.