When a Promise About Your Will Has Legal Weight
Sometimes people make agreements about how their estates will be handled. A parent might promise to leave certain property to a caregiver. Spouses might agree that neither will change their will after the other dies. These agreements can be enforceable, but only if they meet the requirements Arizona sets out in this statute.
After December 31, 1994, a person may enter into a contract to make a will or devise or not to revoke a will or devise or to die intestate only by provisions of a will that state the material provisions of the contract, an express reference in a will to a contract and extrinsic evidence proving the terms of the contract, or a writing signed by the decedent evidencing the contract.
A.R.S. § 14-2514(A)There are three paths to a valid contract. The will itself can spell out the agreement. The will can reference an outside contract with supporting evidence. Or the decedent can sign a separate written contract. Oral agreements do not qualify. Informal understandings do not qualify. The requirement is deliberate documentation.
Joint Wills and Mutual Wills Are Not Automatic Contracts
This is where many families run into trouble. Married couples sometimes create "mirror" or "mutual" wills. Each leaves everything to the other and then to the same beneficiaries. Some assume this means neither spouse can change their will after the first one dies. That assumption is wrong under Arizona law.
The execution of a joint will or mutual wills does not create a presumption of a contract not to revoke the will or wills.
A.R.S. § 14-2514(B)Simply having matching wills is not enough. If the spouses intended a binding agreement that neither would revoke their will, that agreement must be documented separately. Without it, the surviving spouse is free to rewrite their will entirely. For couples who want certainty that their plan survives them both, a properly structured trust often provides stronger protection than mutual wills alone.