Arizona Laws 14-2402. Homestead allowance
A. A decedent‘s surviving spouse is entitled to a homestead allowance of eighteen thousand dollars. If there is no surviving spouse each minor child and each dependent child of the decedent are entitled to a homestead allowance of eighteen thousand dollars divided by the number of minor and dependent children of the decedent.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 14-2402
- Child: includes a person who is entitled to take as a child under this title by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Dependent child: means a minor child whom the decedent was obligated to support or an adult child who was in fact being supported by the decedent at the time of the decedent's death. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Governing instrument: means a deed, will, trust, insurance or annuity policy, account with pay on death designation, security registered in beneficiary form, pension, profit sharing, retirement or similar benefit plan, instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or power of attorney or supported decision-making agreement or a dispositive, appointive or nominative instrument of any similar type. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
- Minor: means a person who is under eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
- 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
B. The homestead allowance is exempt from and has priority over all claims against the estate, except expenses of administration.
C. The homestead allowance is chargeable against any benefit or share that passes to the surviving spouse or minor or dependent child by the decedent’s will, by nonprobate transfer pursuant to section 14-6102 or by intestate succession, unless it is otherwise provided by the decedent’s will or by the governing instrument for a nonprobate transfer. To determine the homestead allowance under this section, a survivorship interest in a joint tenancy of real estate is considered a nonprobate transfer pursuant to section 14-6102.