Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arizona

Re: Real Estate Legalities

Your question is an excellent one but is rather broad. There are basically two areas of concern, protecting yourselves in a detailed written agreement between the two of you, so that your respective rights, entitlements and responsibilities are spelled out in your joint venture or partnership, and the second is to protect yourselves from risks associated with ownership of the property.

Your post raises many questions for the professional, perhaps too many to answer in this type of format. What kind of property is this, single family home, land, apartment, duplex, condo or other type? How will the property be held, in the name of an LLC, corporation or partnership? If a partnership, is it a general partnership or limited? Will it be held in an individual's name or some other form? If an individual, you sacrifice the protection of an LLC or corporation.

What are the details of your agreement? Who has what rights and duties? Who will manage, live in, pay for, maintain the propterty? Is there financing? When will the property be sold? Who decides that? What if you and your partner do not agree on a decision? Is there a procedure for resolving differences? Will there be insurance to cover the partnership from claims for injury if the property is rented? Will you use an agent to sell when the time comes? Who manages your partnership? Who decides what will be done with the property? Who determines if renovation or repairs are needed and who pays for those?

I think if you want "protection" and definition to your investment you will need to see an attorney for this project. There is no simple "form" you are going to find that will give you what you are looking for. Perhaps this response will help you to see some of the issues you can discuss and resolve with your partner, so that you can formalize your agreement. And always have your agreements in proper legal language, in writing with all needed terms.

Good luck.

James D. Jenkins

Re: Real Estate Legalities

Mr. Jenkins has given you a good explanation of the issues raised by 2 persons who desire to share ownership of a piece of real property. His explanation should make it crystal clear that you must have a written agreement which covers all of the issues he has spotted for you as well as other issues, such as what happens in the case that one of you dies, or suffers a catastrophic illness or accident.

This is not a situation where you can get a form or go to document preparer. You need good competent legal advice to determine what legal entity to form, what are the terms and conditions of your agreement, and how to structure the investment to achieve your goals.