Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Arizona, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 4 months to file a claim; and if notice is never published, the absolute deadline is 2 years from the date of death; and a creditor who is personally mailed notice gets 60 days.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in Arizona?
| Once notice to creditors is published | 4 months |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | 2 years from the date of death |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | 60 days |
“Two years after the decedent’s death plus the time remaining in the period commenced by an actual or published notice pursuant to section 14-3801… [creditors must] present their claims within four months after the date of the first publication of the notice or be forever barred… [known creditors get] four months after the published notice… or sixty days after the mailing or other delivery of the notice, whichever is later, or be forever barred.”
What makes Arizona different
Arizona’s 2-year figure is a floor guaranteeing the remainder of the 4-month/60-day notice period runs even if notice is published late; the real operative bar is almost always the shorter figures.
Does this deadline apply the same way if the estate never opens probate?
These deadlines are creatures of the probate process itself; they run once an estate is opened (by publication, mailing, appointment, or the grant of letters, depending on Arizona’s own rule above). A creditor of a decedent whose estate never enters probate at all is not cut off by this particular statute, though the underlying debt’s own ordinary statute of limitations still applies.
Sources
| Statute | Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 14-3803, 14-3801 |
| Arizona courts (general reference) | Arizona judicial branch |
| Arizona Secretary of State / legislature | Arizona state government |
| Confidence | High |
Every statute quoted on this page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; the exact deadline in a given estate can turn on facts (whether a personal representative was appointed, whether notice was ever published or mailed) that only your own probate court file can confirm.