Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arizona

Re: residence deed

You will want a Warranty Deed that conveys an undivided 1/2 interest. I charge $100 to prepare such a document.

Re: residence deed

I prefer community property with right of survivorship in most cases for married couples rather than joint tenancy. There is possibly a tax advantage if one of the spouses dies, and it works like joint tenancy as far as the survivorship goes. If one spouse dies, the other owns the whole tenancy.

Placing the house in such an ownership gives away one half of the property, and it is no longer your separate property, which I am sure you understand. In the event of separation, you are unlikely to receive the entire property.

Do you have estate planning documents? How will this house fit in with your plan? Will this house be in a trust (apparently not from your question) or will there be a beneficiary deed? Do you have children or other beneficiaries to protect? Will you have a probate in your estate, and will the house be subject to that?

The problem you are having with looking at do-it-yourself forms is that the procedure you are planning is really in the nature of a quit-claim deed, but the granting language will be to take the property by the grantee as community property with right of survivorship, unless you do not want the house to pass to the other automatically upon the death of one of you.

Some things to think about.

Good luck and best regards,

James D. Jenkins