Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Arizona

Re: father died without a will

I don't know if you have a friend or anyone in AZ who could act on your behalf, however, in order to have authority to act on behalf of the estate of your father, you should petition the probate court for administration of his estate and seek appointment as the personal representative of the estate. Even though you live out of state, you can bring the action and be represented by AZ counsel, who can act on your behalf to investigate and find the assets in the estate. In order to have legal authority to act, you need to be appointed as the Personal Representative, even though you are the sole heir. As personal representative, you are responsible to see that any claims are paid and that any taxes owed are paid, but it is an informal proceeding and easy to pursue.

Re: father died without a will

You may not need a probate, depending upon the circumstances and assets, so I will disagree to that extent with the opinions already given. It is possible to collect assets without a probate, depending upon the total amount of assets in the estate. Some assets are in "P.O.D." status and there is another procedure for that.

We offer a free, no obligation consultation, which can be done by telephone, to get more information and answer all questions after we have all the facts. If you want to take advantage of this call 480.835.1500.

Best regards,

James D. Jenkins

Re: father died without a will

By Arizona Law you should be the only heir. Yiou must open a probate and go from there.