What is a beneficiary deed in Scottsdale, Arizona, and does the house still go through probate?

A beneficiary deed is a deed that names who receives your Arizona home when you die, and when it has been signed and recorded the way the law requires, the home passes to that person by the deed instead of through your probate estate. That's how two Arizona estate planning firms describe it, and the statute behind it is A.R.S. 33-405. The deed covers only the real estate it names, so it doesn't replace a will or a trust for everything else you own.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. Below is what the statute, the Willmaker legal manual, Arizona law firms and the State Bar of Arizona's magazine say, with the source named next to each fact.

This is general information, not legal advice, and it is not estate planning. An estate planning attorney is the person who can tell you what fits your home, your family and your finances, and I checked each source on November 9, 2026.

It changes nothing about who owns the home. The owner keeps it, and the person named in the deed has no claim to it yet. Willmaker says the owner keeps complete ownership of and control over the real estate, and the Arizona law firm KEYTLaw says the owner can sell, mortgage, rent or refinance the property without the beneficiary's consent. The statute agrees that the person named doesn't have to consent to the deed or be told about it while the owner is alive.

The owner can also change course. A.R.S. 33-405 lets the owner revoke a beneficiary deed at any time, as long as the revocation is recorded before the owner dies. An Arizona law firm's page at elder-law.com says recording a new beneficiary deed automatically revokes the old one, and the statute says that when several are recorded, the last one recorded before death is the one that counts. Willmaker adds that a will can't revoke a recorded beneficiary deed, and the statute says the same thing.

The home goes to the person named in the deed, and it doesn't pass through the owner's probate estate. Willmaker says no probate is necessary for it, KEYTLaw says the property passes automatically by operation of law and isn't part of the deceased owner's probate estate, and an Arizona Attorney magazine article from the State Bar of Arizona says the deed avoids the probate process. If the owner has other property that isn't covered by a deed like this, that property is a separate question for an attorney.

The person named still has a step to take. Willmaker and KEYTLaw both say the beneficiary records a certified copy of the death certificate with the county recorder to finish the transfer. The beneficiary also takes the home as it stands. The statute says the transfer is subject to encumbrances the owner put on the property, so a mortgage or other lien the owner placed on the home goes with it.

If no one named in the deed is alive when the owner dies, the statute says the deed is void unless it provides otherwise. It lets the owner name a successor who takes if the first person doesn't, and the deed has to say under what condition that happens. An attorney can tell you how to word that for your family.

It has to be recorded with the county recorder before the owner dies. The statute says the deed must be executed and recorded before the owner's death, Willmaker says it won't be valid otherwise, and KEYTLaw says a deed found in a desk drawer after the owner dies is worthless. For a home in Scottsdale, the county is Maricopa County, and here's how to look up Scottsdale property records, which is also how you can see whether a deed has been recorded on a property.

Who signs matters too. Provident Law attorneys, in an article at asreb.com, say the Arizona courts have held in the Ganoni case that only a natural person can execute a beneficiary deed, which means a person and not a trust. That is their summary of the case, so ask an attorney how it applies to you. And if the home is owned by more than one person, the statute says the deed takes effect on the death of the last surviving owner, and that if that last owner didn't sign the deed, the transfer fails. Those are the kinds of details I'd leave to an attorney, because a deed that isn't done right can fail.

In Arizona the document is called a beneficiary deed. Willmaker titles its Arizona page "Beneficiary (Transfer on Death) Deeds," and it is the same idea other states call a transfer-on-death deed, though what Arizona allows is what A.R.S. 33-405 says and not another state's rules.

A life estate deed, including the version sometimes called an enhanced life estate deed, is a different kind of deed, and I haven't covered it here. If someone has suggested one for your home, ask an estate planning attorney how it compares with a beneficiary deed for your situation, since the two work differently.

A quitclaim deed transfers whatever interest the person signing has and doesn't guarantee that they own the property, according to Aceable and to the deed-form site DeedClaim. A beneficiary deed is a different thing, because it transfers nothing until death. Both sources say a quitclaim deed is often used for gifts and moves between relatives or spouses, and DeedClaim says buyers in a sale usually want a warranty instead. I'm not telling you which deed to use for a transfer in your family, because a deed that moves a home now can have consequences that an attorney should walk you through first.

A warranty deed is the one that makes promises. Aceable and DeedClaim both say a general warranty deed guarantees the seller owns the property with clear title, including against claims from before the seller owned it, while a special warranty deed only covers the time the seller owned it. A warranty deed is mostly about a sale, and a beneficiary deed is about what happens at death.

A trust is a different tool again. Instead of one deed on one home, the trust is a separate arrangement with a person who manages what's in it, and here's my post on selling a house held in a trust in Arizona. The statute does allow a beneficiary deed to transfer property to the trustee of a revocable trust, and the elder-law.com page suggests naming a trust as the beneficiary in some cases. Whether a trust, a beneficiary deed or both fits you is a question for an estate planning attorney.

If the owner sells the home while alive, the owner can do that without the beneficiary's consent, per KEYTLaw and Willmaker. The elder-law.com page says a sale makes the beneficiary designation invalid and that the person named doesn't receive any of the proceeds. That's one firm's wording, so I'd ask the title company and an attorney how a recorded beneficiary deed on the property is handled at closing.

If the owner has died and the home passed by a beneficiary deed, the person named becomes the owner by recording the death certificate, as described above, and can then talk to a title company and an attorney about selling. Here's my post on selling an inherited home in Arizona, which covers the different ways a home can come to the person signing. Who has the authority to sign is something I'd have confirmed in writing before the house is listed.

Ask whether a beneficiary deed fits your home and your family, who should be named and who should be the successor, and what happens if the person named dies first. Ask what happens to the rest of what you own, because the deed covers only the real estate it names. Ask how the deed fits with any will or trust you already have, whether it's properly recorded for the county where the home is, and what to do if circumstances change, since you can revoke it. Here's my post on whether you need a real estate attorney in Scottsdale.

If you're thinking about selling a home in Scottsdale, now or down the road, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605. For the deed itself, an estate planning attorney is the person to ask.