Escheat: The State as the Final Heir
This is one of the shortest statutes in Arizona's probate code, but the concept behind it is straightforward. When every other category of heir has been exhausted and no one qualifies to inherit, the estate goes to Arizona.
If no one is qualified to claim the estate under this article, the intestate estate passes to the state.
A.R.S. § 14-2105In practice, escheat is rare. Arizona's inheritance rules reach broadly through the family tree, covering descendants, parents, siblings, grandparents, and even distant cousins. For the state to inherit, every one of those categories must have no surviving members.
How This Connects to Survival Requirements
The 120-hour survival rule under A.R.S. § 14-2104 contains an important safeguard that references this statute. If applying the survival requirement would cause the estate to escheat to the state (because every potential heir would be disqualified), the survival rule is set aside. Arizona law would rather have a relative inherit than allow the state to take an estate on a technicality.
For most families, this statute is unlikely to apply. But it reinforces an important point: without a will or living trust, you have no control over where your assets end up. The state's rules decide, and the state itself is the final fallback.
