Governing Instrument

Estate Documents

A legal document that controls how property passes, including wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and joint tenancy agreements.

A governing instrument is any written document that controls how property is owned, managed, or transferred. Arizona's Uniform Probate Code uses this term broadly. It covers the full range of estate planning papers, not just wills and trusts.

What Qualifies as a Governing Instrument

The term includes:

Wills and codicils
Revocable and irrevocable trusts
Beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts, and annuities
Payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) designations
Joint tenancy and community property agreements with right of survivorship
Powers of appointment

Any document that directs how an asset passes at death can qualify. So can one that controls property during incapacity.

Why the Term Matters

Arizona's rules of construction apply to governing instruments broadly. These include the 120-hour survival rule (A.R.S. § 14-2702) and choice-of-law provisions (A.R.S. § 14-2703). The same defaults that apply to a will also apply to a beneficiary designation or trust. Each document can override these defaults.

This broad scope shows why consistency across all estate planning papers matters. A will, trust, and beneficiary designation can all affect the same property. When those documents conflict, the one that directly controls the asset typically wins.