What happens to my house if it is not in my trust?

Your family will likely need to open a probate case with the Arizona Superior Court. The court will appoint a personal representative (if you had a will naming one) or an administrator (if you did not). That person then has authority to manage and eventually transfer the property.

In Arizona, the probate process typically takes six to twelve months, sometimes longer if there are disputes or complications. During probate, the property cannot be sold or transferred without court approval. Your family cannot simply list it with a real estate agent and close a sale. Every step requires the court's oversight.

That means your spouse, children, or other heirs may be stuck paying the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance on a home they cannot sell. For more on what this looks like in practice, see our article on whether heirs can live in a house during probate in Arizona.

The most common reason a house ends up outside the trust is that the trust was created but the house was never retitled into it. This is called an unfunded trust, and it is the single biggest mistake in estate planning. People pay for a trust, sign the documents, put the binder on a shelf, and assume they are done. But without transferring the deed, the trust has no authority over the property.

Other common scenarios include:

• You refinanced your home and the lender put the title back in your personal name. This happens frequently, and many families do not realize the trust was removed from the title.
• You bought a new home after creating the trust and never transferred the new property into it.
• You inherited property and it came into your name individually, not in your trust's name.

For a detailed walkthrough of how to get your home into your trust, including what to do if you have a mortgage, read our guide on putting a house in a trust with a mortgage in Arizona.

If you recorded a beneficiary deed under A.R.S. 33-405 before your death, the house transfers directly to the named beneficiary without probate, even if it is not in your trust. A beneficiary deed is a backup tool that names a person to receive your real property when you pass.

But a beneficiary deed only covers the specific property listed on the deed. It cannot be recorded after death. And it does not provide the same level of control as a trust (for example, it cannot create staggered distributions for young beneficiaries or protect assets from a beneficiary's creditors).

If no beneficiary deed was in place and the house was not in the trust, probate is usually the only path forward. For a deeper comparison, read our article on beneficiary deeds vs. trusts in Arizona.

If you have a pour-over will as part of your estate plan, it directs any assets not in your trust to be transferred into the trust after your death. That sounds helpful, but here is the catch: the pour-over will still has to go through probate. It does not skip the court process. It simply tells the court where the assets should end up once probate is complete.

A pour-over will is a safety net, not a replacement for proper trust funding.

If you already have a trust, check your property deed. Look at the name on the title. If it says your individual name instead of the name of your trust, the house is not in the trust. You will need to record a new deed transferring the property.

In Arizona, this is typically done with a quitclaim deed or special warranty deed. There is no transfer tax, and the transfer does not trigger a property tax reassessment. The recording fee is typically $15 to $30 per document, depending on the county.

If you have not created a trust yet, make sure trust funding is part of the plan from the start. At RJP Estate Planning, we include funding assistance with every trust-based estate plan so your home and other assets are properly titled from day one. For more on the funding process, see our step-by-step trust funding guide.