Arizona Probate Records
This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford and Nell Sachse Woodard for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Probate records, generated by the legal aspects surrounding a person's death, adoption, or guardianship, are valuable sources in Arizona for solving numerous problems relating to individuals, families, and family relationships. Probate-related records are located in the offices of the clerk of the superior court.
If a person died testate, meaning that a proper last will and testament was prepared, the estate was heard in the county of residence or where property was held. Intestates (without a will) are filed in the same way. If minor heirs are involved, additional records will be forthcoming, and, depending on the ages of these minors, their names may appear in court records for as long as they remained minors. A search of probate records should include a careful examination of all indexes and cases involving all of the pertinent court records in order to uncover all of the information in these materials. Probate records also handle adoptions. The FHL has microfilm copies of probate records for many counties.
