Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs

There are all sorts of forms executors, beneficiaries, and probate court clerks have to fill out and correspond with during probate and estate settlement, including affidavits, letters, petitions, summons, orders, and notices.

Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs is a commonly used form within Arizona. Here’s an overview of what the form is and means, including a breakdown of the situations when (or why) you may need to use it:

Atticus Fast Facts About Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs

Sometimes it’s tough to find a quick summary— here’s the important details you should know about Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs:

• This form pertains to the State of Arizona

Government forms are not typically updated often, though when they are, it often happens rather quietly. While Atticus works hard to keep this information about Arizona’s Form pbip18fz - Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs up to date, certain details can change from time-to-time with little or no communication.

Step 1 - Download the correct Arizona form based on the name and ID if applicable

Double check that you have both the correct form name and the correct form ID. Some Arizona probate forms can look remarkably similar, so it’s best to double, even triple-check that you’re using the right one! Keep in mind that not all States have a standardized Form ID system for their probate forms.

Step 2 - Complete the Document

Fill out all relevant fields in Form pbip18fz, take a break, and then review. Probate and estate settlement processes in AZ are long enough to begin with, and making a silly error can push your timeline even farther back. No thank you!

Note: If you don’t currently know all of the answers and are accessing Form pbip18fz online, be sure to avoid closing the browser tab and potentially losing all your progress (or use a platform like Atticus to help avoid making mistakes).

Step 3 - Have Form pbip18fz witnessed or notarized (if required)

Some States and situations require particular forms to be notarized. If you have been instructed to get the document notarized or see it in writing on the document, then make sure to hire a local notary. There are max notary fees in the United States that are defined and set by local law. Take a look at our full guide to notary fees to make sure you aren’t overpaying or getting ripped off.

Step 4 - Submit Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs to the relevant office

This is most often the local probate court where the decedent (person who passed away) is domiciled (permanently resides) or the institution involved with this particular form (e.g. a bank). Some offices allow you to submit forms online, other’s don’t, and we while we generally recommend going in-person to expedite the process, sometimes that simply isn’t an option.

It’s also a generally good idea to establish a positive working relationship with any probate clerk (unfortunately there’s enough people & process out there making things more difficult and unnecessarily confusing for them), so a best practice is to simply ask the probate clerk proactively exactly how and where they’d prefer you to submit all forms.

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Different probate forms or processes can require different deadlines or response times for completing the appropriate form.

While some steps in the process are bound to specific deadlines (like petitioning for probate, having to submit an inventory of assets, or filing applicable notices to creditors and beneficiaries), many probate forms or processes are not tied to a specific deadline since the scope of work can vary based on situational factors or requirements involved.

Either way, there are a bunch of practical reasons why personal representatives should work to complete each step as thoroughly and quickly as possible when completing probate in Arizona.

5 reasons you should submit pbip18fz as quickly as possible:

1. The sooner you begin, the faster Arizona can allow heirs and beneficiaries to get their share of assets subject to probate. Acting promptly can also decrease the costs & overall mental fatigue through an otherwise burdensome process.
   
   Helpful Context: What’s the Difference Between Probate and Non-Probate Assets?

2. In general, creditors of an estate usually have around 3-6 months from the time you file notice to creditors to file any claims for debt against the deceased’s assets. If they don’t, then that debt is forfeited (and more importantly, the executor won’t be held personally responsible). So doing this sooner means you have a better idea of who is owed what and ensures you won’t get a surprise collector months later.

3. Not filing a will within 30 days (on average) could mean that the probate process proceeds according to intestate laws (laws that govern what happens to someone's stuff without a will) or is subject to unnecessary supervision by the probate court. And if you aren't directly related to the deceased (a.k.a. next of kin), this could also mean you lose your inheritance.

4. It’s important to file any necessary state tax returns on behalf of the deceased or estate by the following tax season in Arizona. If you don’t, you could owe penalties and interest. This also includes any necessary federal tax returns such as Forms 1040, 1041, or even a Form 706 estate tax return.

5. If a house in the State of Arizona is left empty (or abandoned) for a while, insurance can get dicey. For example, if the house burns down and no one has been there for a year, an insurance company may get out of paying your claim.

If you’re not using Atticus to get specific forms, deadlines, and timelines for Arizona probate, then try and stay as organized as possible, pay close attention to the dates mentioned in any correspondence you have with the State’s government officials, call the local Arizona probate clerk or court for exact answers regarding Form pbip18fz, and when in doubt— consult a qualified trust & estates lawyer for that area.

Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs is one of the many probate court forms available for download through Atticus.

It may also be available through some Arizona probate court sites, such as . In order to access the latest version, be updated with any revisions, and get full instructions on how to complete each form, check out the Atticus Probate & Estate Settlement software or consider hiring a qualified legal expert locally within Arizona.

While Atticus automatically provides the latest forms, be sure to choose the correct version of Form pbip18fz - Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs f using any other site or resource in order to avoid having to re-complete the form process and/or make another trip to the Arizona probate court office.

Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs is a .pdf, so opening it should be as simple as clicking “View Form” from within the Atticus app or by clicking the appropriate link found on any Arizona-provided government platform. Once you’ve opened the form, you should be able to directly edit the form before saving or printing.

Here’s the text, verbatim, that is found on Arizona Form pbip18fz - Order To Personal Representative And Acknowledgement And Information To Heirs. You can use this to get an idea of the context of the form and what type of information is needed.

© Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 1 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Person Filing: Address (if not protected): City, State, Zip Code: Telephone: Email Address: Lawyer’s Bar Number: Licensed Fiduciary Number: Representing Self, without a Lawyer OR Attorney for SUPERIOR COURT OF ARIZONA IN ____________ COUNTY In the Matter of the Estate of Case Number: ORDER TO PERSONAL Deceased REPRESENTATIVE (Assigned Judicial Officer) Warning: Your appointment is not effective until the Clerk of Superior Court has issued letters appointing you as personal representative. You have asked the court to appoint you as the personal representative of the Estate of the deceased (“decedent”). While you serve as the Estate’s personal representative, you will be under this court’s authority and supervision. This Order generally e xplains your duties to the Estate and this court. You may have additional duties imposed by statutes, rules, or the court. By separate order, the court may modify or excuse you from performing a specific duty described below. In Arizona, beneficiari es and creditors of an estate are expected to protect their own interests in the Estate. You must provide them with sufficient information to enable them to protect their interests. However, the court may review or supervise your actions if an interested person files a written request asking the court to do so. In addition, the court may hold you personally liable and responsible for any damage or loss to the Estate resulting from a violation of your duties. For Clerk’s Use Only Case Number: © Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 2 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED YOUR DUTIES AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE Chapter 3, Title 14 of the Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) sets forth the powers and duties of a personal representative. You are responsible for knowing and performing your duties according to these statutes. The following is an outline of some of your duties as personal representative. 1.General Fiduciar y Duties. As a personal representative, you are a fiduciary and must observe the same standard of care applicable to trustees. A.R.S. § 14-3703(A). This means you have a leg al duty of fairness and impartiality to the be neficiaries and the creditors of the Estate. In re Estate of Fogleman, 197 Ariz. 252, 258, ¶ 17, 3 P.3d 1172, 1178 (App. 2000). You must be cautious and prudent in dealing with Estate assets. The Estate assets do not belong to you, and you must never use them for your personal benefit or mix them with your assets or anyone else’s assets. Arizona law prohibits a personal representative from participating in transactions that involve a conflict of interest between the personal representative’s fiduciary obligations and the persona l representativ e’s individual interests. See A.R.S. § 14-3713. Other than receiving reasonable compensation for your services as personal representative, you may not profit from dealin g with Estate assets. 2.P rovide Required Noti ces. (a) Mail a Copy of this Order. Within 30 days after the Clerk of Superior Court issues your letters of appointment, you must mail a copy of this Order to Personal Representative to all the decedent’s heirs and devisees and to any other person who has filed a demand for notice. (b) Notice of Ap pointment. Within 30 days after the Clerk of Superior Court issues your letters of appointment, you must mail notice of your appointment to the heirs and devisees whose addresses are reasonably available to you. If your appointment wa s made in a formal proceeding, you do not need to give notice to those persons who were given notice of the formal appointment proceeding. A.R.S. § 14-3705. (c)Notice of Admission of Will to Probate. Within 30 days of the admission of the decedent’s will to informal probate, you must provide all the decedent’s heirs and devisees with both written notice of the will’s admission to probate and a copy of the will. You must notify the heirs and devisees that they have 4 months from receipt o f the notice t o contest the probate. A.R.S. § 14-3306(B). 3.File P roof of Compliance. Within 45 days after the Clerk of Superior Court issues your l etters of appointment, you must file with the court a sworn statement that you have complied with your obligations under paragraph 2. The statement must list the name and Case Number: © Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 3 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED address of each person to whom you mailed the required document, the title of each document you sent that person, and the date you mailed the document to the person. 4.Notice to C reditors. Unless a predecessor personal representative already has f ulfilled this duty or you were appointed more than two years after the decedent’s date of death, you must publish a notice once a week for 3 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in this county. The notice must announce your appointment as perso nal representativ e, provide your mailing address, and advise the Estate’s creditors that their claims will be barred unless the creditors present those claims within 4 months after the date the notice is first published. In addition, you must mail or personally deliver a similar notice to all known or reasonably ascertainable creditors of the Estate. A.R.S. § 14- 3801(A) and (B); Tulsa Prof. Collection Servs., Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 487, 491 (1988). 5.General Duty to Gather and Manage Estate Assets. (a) You must promptly identify and take possession of Estate assets and make proper arrangements to protect them. A.R.S. § 14-3709(A). Estate assets are property (rea l and person al) the decedent owned at the time of death. However, Estate assets do not include property that is nontestamentary in nat ure. (b)An asse t may be nontestamentary in nature if a contractual provision controls the dispositio n of the assets after the decedent’s death, such as a life insurance policy, an annuity, or a retirement account that has a beneficiary designation other than t he Estate. I n addition, an asset owned by the decedent as “joint tenants with right of survivorsh ip,” “pay on death,” or “transfer on death” may be nontestamentary in nature if any joint tenant or designated beneficiary survives the decedent. See A.R.S. § 14-6101. (c) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires each estate to have its own t ax identificatio n number because a decedent and that decedent’s estate become two separate tax entities after the decedent’s death. Thus, you will likely need to obtain a tax identification number for the Estate from the IRS. (d)If you take p ossession of any cash or cash equivalents on behalf of the Estate, y ou should open a bank account for the Estate. The bank most likely will require the Estate’s taxpayer identification number and a certified copy of your Letters of Personal Repr esentative before it will open the account. The name on the account should b e either “Estate of (decedent’s name), by (your name), Personal Representative” or “(your name), Personal Representative, Estate of (decedent’s name).” When you sign any documents, including checks, in your capacit y as personal representative, you should be certain to sign your name as follows: “ (your name), Pers onal Representative, Estate of (decedent’s name).” Deposit all income, cash, or other receipts into the Estate’s account. Similarly, all disbursements from the Case Number: © Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 4 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Estate should be made from that same account. Do NOT use your personal accounts to transact Estate business. (e) Make all checks payable to a specific person or entity. Do NOT make any checks payable to “cash” or to “miscellaneous.” You should make checks payable to yourself only to reimburse yourself for expenses or fees that have been itemized on a statement or receipt. You should make a note on each check describing its purpose (e.g., rent payment). In addition, you should keep all receipts or other evidence relating to th e payment. Lik ewise, be sure to keep all the monthly bank statements so they can be used to prepare the Estate accounting(s). (f) Do NOT title Estate assets in your name individually or anyone else’s name, or as a joint account, trust account (“in trust for”), or payable on death (“POD”) account. Do not mix any Estate assets with your own assets or anyone else’s assets . 6.Restricted As sets. If the court has entered an order restricting an account, you must file Form 10, Proof of Restricted Account from Financial Institution, within 30 days after t he court’s o rder, or as otherwise ordered by the court. Form 10 must be signed by a n authorized representative of the financial institution. Ariz. R. Prob. P. 36(b)(2). If the court has restricted your authority over any real property located in Arizona, within 10 court days after issuance of your letters of appointment, you must record a certified copy of those letters of appointment in the county where that real property is located and, no later than 45 calendar days after the county recorder has recorded your letters of appointment, you must file a copy of the recorded letters with this court. Ariz. R. Prob. P . 39(f). 7.Inventory. U nless a predecessor personal representative already has fulfilled this duty, within 90 days after your letters of appointment are issued, you must prepare an inventory that lists with reasonable detail the property the decedent owned at the time of death and the fair market value of each item as of the date of the decedent’s death. A.R.S. § 14- 3706(A); Ariz. R. Prob. P. 50(a). You must eit her: (a) file the inventory with the court and mail a copy of it to all interested persons who request a copy, or (b)not file the inventory with the court but mail a copy of the inventory to each of the heirs if the decedent died intestate or to each of the devisees if the decedent’s will was admitted to probate, and to any other interested person who requests a copy of the inventory. A.R.S . § 14-3706(B). If you do not file the inventory with the court, you must file a sworn document that identifies each person to whom you provided the inventory and how and when you provided them with the inventory. Ariz. R. Prob. P. 50(a)(3). Case Number: © Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 5 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED If you discover an additional asset or discover that the value of an asset listed on the inventory is erroneous or misleading, you must prepare a supplementary inventory. If you filed the original inventory with the court, you must file the supplementary inventory with the court. If you mailed or delivered a copy of the original inventory to the heirs or devisees, you must do the same for the supplementary inventory. A.R.S. § 14-3708; Ariz. R. P rob. P. 50(a)(4). 8.Determine S tatutory Allowances. You must determine whether any individual is e ntitled to statutory allo wances under A.R.S. §§ 14-2402, -2403, and -2404. Statutory allowances include a homestead allowance, exempt property allowance, and family allowance. 9.Keep Detai led Records. You must keep detailed records of your administration of the Estate. This includes a record of all funds and other assets you receive on the Estate’s behalf and a record of all disbursements you make. You must keep receipts to prove out- of-pocket expenses. 10.Taxes. You must determine what, if any, tax returns must be filed for the decedent and the Estate, file any necessary returns, and pay any taxes owed. 11.Pay Valid Claims and Expenses. You must determine which claims against, and expenses of, the Estate are valid and should be paid. You must promptly provide written no tice to any creditor whose claim is disallowed that the claim will not be paid or will not be paid in full. Failure to provide timely notice of the disallowance may result in allowance of the claim by default. See A.R.S. § 14-3806. If the Estate has enough assets to satisfy any statutory allowance and to pay all valid claims against the Estate, you must pay all valid claims against the Estate. If the Estate does not have enough assets to pay in full any statutory allo wances and all allowed claims, you must determine th e order in which the allowances a nd claims should be paid according to the law. See A.R.S. §§ 14-2 402(B), 14- 2403(D), 14-2404(B), and 14-3805. You may be personally liable if you pay an allowance or a claim that should not be paid. 12.Distribute Remaining Assets. After payment of any statutory allowances and all allowed claims against the Estate, you must distribute the remaining Estate assets as direct ed in the decedent’s probated will, or, if the court did not admit a will to probate, to the d ecedent’s heirs in accordance with Arizona’s intestacy statutes. If t he Estate does not have enough assets to make the devises set forth in the decedent’s probated will, you must determine how Arizona law requires the distributions to be made. See A.R.S. § 14- 3902. You may be personally liable if you improperly distribute Estate assets. 13.Change of Address. If your contact information changes during your appointment, you must file Form 13, Notice of Change of Fiduciary’s Contact Information, no later than 10 court days after such a change occurs. Ariz. R. Prob. P. 13(c)(1)(A ). Case Number: © Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 6 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 14.Compensation for Services as Personal Representative. If you are a licensed fiduciary, are related by blood or marriage to the decedent, or are nominated in the decedent’s will to serve as personal representative, you may be entitled to compensation for your services as personal representative of the Estate. See A.R.S. §§ 14-3719 and 14-5651. If you wish to be compensated for your services as personal representative, you should keep detailed records of th e time you spend performing your duties. The time records shoul d include the date y ou perform each task, a description of the task, the amount of time you spent on the task, and the hourly rate you are charging for that task. Read Rule 33, Arizona Rules of Probate Pr ocedure, and Arizona Code of Judicial Administration § 3- 303 for more infor mation about compensation for personal representative services. 15.Court Involve ment. To reduce expenses, estates are administered, and estate claims and expenses are paid, with little court involvement. The court does not oversee the administration of a decedent’s estate unless an interested person requests court intervention. See A.R.S. § 14-3704. 16.Close the Estate. After you have fully administered the Estate and the Estate assets have been distributed, the Estate must be closed, either formally or informally. To informall y close the E state, you must file a closing statement with the court and send a copy of it to all distributees and to all creditors or other claimants of whom you are aware whose claims are not fully paid or barred. A.R.S. § 14-3933(A). To formally close the Estate, you must file a petition, obtain a hearing date, and provide notice of that hearing. A.R .S. §§ 14 -3931 and 14-3932. Usually, an estate should be completely administered a nd closed within two years after the initial appointment of a personal representative. If y ou have not closed the Estate within two years after the initial appointment of a personal representative, the court may issue a notice stating that the Estate will be administrat ively closed and your appointment as personal representative will be terminated wi thout a discharge fr om liability unless further action is taken. Ariz. R. Prob. P. 51. 17.Legal Advice. You are responsible for obtaining proper legal advice about your duties. Failure to do so may result in personal financial liability for any losses. If you have an y questions about the meaning of this order or the duties that the court’s orders, statutes, and rules impose upon you by reason of your appointment as personal representative, you should consult an attorney or petition the court for instructions. 18.Forms. Forms referred to in this order and other forms are available at https://www.azcourts.gov/probate . Case Number: © Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County Page 7 of 7 PBIP18f-030722 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Warning: Failure to obey this order, the other orders of this court, or the statutory provisions or rules relating to personal representatives may result in your removal as personal representative and other penalties. In some circumstances, you may be held in contempt of court, and your contempt may be punished by confinement in jail, a fine, or both. Ariz. R. Prob. P. 48. DATED this day of , 20 . __________________________________________ Judicial Officer’s Signature __________________________________________ Judicial Officer’s Name (Type or Print Name) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I (We), the undersigned, agree to be bound by the provisions of this order while serving as personal representative. Date Personal Representative Signature Personal Representative Name (Type or Print Name) Date Personal Representative Signature Personal Representative Name (Type or Print Name) Date Co-Personal Representative Signature (if any) Co-Personal Representative Name (Type or Print Name)