Arizona Laws 14-2207. Rights of surviving spouse; waiver; requirements; effect
A. A surviving spouse may waive the person‘s homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance rights in whole or in part either before or after marriage by a written contract, agreement or waiver that is signed by the surviving spouse.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 14-2207
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Court: means the superior court. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Exempt property: means that property of a decedent's estate that is described in section 14-2403. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Person: means an individual or an organization. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Will: includes a codicil and any testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, revokes or revises another will, nominates a guardian or expressly excludes or limits the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215
B. A surviving spouse’s waiver is not enforceable if the surviving spouse provides that either of the following is true:
1. That person did not execute the waiver voluntarily.
2. The waiver was unconscionable when it was executed and before its execution that person:
(a) Was not provided a fair and reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the decedent.
(b) Did not voluntarily and expressly waive, in writing, any right to disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the decedent beyond the disclosure provided.
(c) Did not have, or reasonably could not have had, an adequate knowledge of the property or financial obligations of the decedent.
C. The issue of a waiver’s unconscionability may only be decided by the court as a matter of law.
D. Unless it provides to the contrary, a waiver that contains the words "all rights" or equivalent language, in relation to the property or estate of a present or prospective spouse or a complete property settlement entered into after or in anticipation of separation or divorce, is a waiver of all rights of homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance by each spouse in the property of the other and a renunciation by each of all benefits that would otherwise pass to each person from the other by intestate succession or by virtue of any will executed before the waiver or property settlement.