Travis Bunn
Founder, AppealDesk · Published March 27, 2026 · Updated August 19, 2026
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Updated August 2026
Arizona runs a dual-value system: Full Cash Value, which tracks the market, and Limited Property Value, the capped number your tax bill is actually based on. Inheriting a home in most states means bracing for the taxable value to catch up to the market. In Arizona, it usually doesn't. The list of events that reset Limited Property Value to Full Cash Value is short, specific, and does not include a change of ownership.
Arizona Revised Statutes 42-13302 lists the complete, exclusive set of circumstances that require Limited Property Value to be re-established at Full Cash Value: property erroneously omitted from the prior roll, a change in the property's objectively verifiable use, construction or demolition worth 15% or more of the property's value, a split or consolidation of parcels, loss of eligibility for the senior valuation freeze, or loss of a statutory valuation classification. Change of ownership, sale, transfer, and inheritance appear nowhere on that list. Chapter 13, Article 7 of Title 42 contains exactly three sections total, and none of the other two touches ownership either.
Limited Property Value itself is capped at the prior year's value plus 5%, and it can never exceed current Full Cash Value. Because inheritance isn't a reset trigger, an heir keeps the decedent's capped, generally lower Limited Property Value rather than starting over at full market value. This runs the opposite direction from states that reassess on transfer: nothing resets, whether the new owner is a spouse, a child, or an unrelated devisee.
The Senior Valuation Protection option, sometimes called the senior freeze, lets a resident 65 or older who has lived in the home at least two years lock in its value, with income limited to a multiple of the federal SSI benefit rate. It's established directly in the Arizona Constitution, Article IX, Section 18(7), and applications are due by September 1. Because eligibility runs to the individual owner's age, residency, and income rather than to the parcel, an heir does not inherit an existing freeze; they would need to independently qualify and apply.
The Widow/Widower and Disabled Person Exemption under A.R.S. 42-11111 makes this explicit: the statute lists conveyance of title to another owner as a disqualifying event. The exemption, currently up to $4,188 off assessed value, ends when the property changes hands, full stop, regardless of who inherits it. A surviving spouse of a veteran with a 100% service-connected disability can continue claiming the full exemption while occupying the property and remaining unmarried, but that's the one narrow continuity provision in the statute.
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Chapter 4 of Title 42, where Arizona's old estate tax lived, no longer exists in the current statutes; the compiled chapters run straight from Chapter 3 to Chapter 5. Arizona's estate tax was historically a pickup tax tied to a federal credit that phased out after 2004, and voters later repealed the underlying authority. There is no separate Arizona inheritance tax either. Nothing is owed to the state on the inheritance itself.
Community property adds no separate wrinkle to the valuation rules: because A.R.S. 42-13302's trigger list doesn't single out ownership changes of any kind, a surviving spouse who inherits the other spouse's interest keeps the same capped Limited Property Value as any other heir would, without needing a spousal-specific carve-out.
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Under A.R.S. 14-3101, Arizona's Uniform Probate Code provision, property passes to devisees or heirs immediately at death, subject to homestead allowance, family allowances, creditor claims, and administration. Arizona also allows a beneficiary deed under A.R.S. 33-405, letting real property pass to a named beneficiary outside probate entirely if recorded before death.
Because title and interest devolve at death, an heir with a vested interest generally has standing to petition for a valuation review even while administration is open. The deadline to petition the county assessor is 60 days after the notice of valuation is mailed, under A.R.S. 42-16051. From there, appeals proceed to the County Board of Equalization, or a property owner can go directly to Arizona Tax Court by December 15 regardless of whether they exhausted administrative remedies first.
No. A.R.S. 42-13302 lists the only six events that reset Limited Property Value to Full Cash Value, and change of ownership isn't one of them. You keep the same capped taxable value the property already had, whether you're a spouse, child, or unrelated heir.
No. The Senior Valuation Protection option and the Widow/Widower/Disabled Person Exemption are both tied to the individual owner's age, residency, income, or status. The disabled/widow exemption statute explicitly ends on conveyance of title to another owner; an heir has to independently qualify and file.
No. Arizona's estate tax chapter no longer exists in the current statutes, and Arizona has no separate inheritance tax. Nothing is owed to the state on the transfer itself.
No, generally. Title and interest in the property devolve to heirs immediately at death under A.R.S. 14-3101, subject to administration, which supports an heir having standing to petition for a valuation review while probate is still open.
A petition to the county assessor is due 60 days after the notice of valuation is mailed. You can also skip straight to Arizona Tax Court by December 15, regardless of whether you filed an administrative petition first.