Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arizona
Right of survivorship
Definition of the term joint tenants with right of survivorship.
We recently bought a piece of property and the deed explicity says, ''husband and wife as joint tenants with right of survivorship. This property was purchased with another couple as coowners. Please explain to us what the term Joint tenants with right of survivorship means. Does this mean that should we both die, they would automatically own the property in its entirety or would our one-half interest go to our heirs?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Right of survivorship
Without seeing the rest of the deed there is no way to tell. Joint tenants with rights of survivorship means that the last one alive owns the property. However, it is possible to title the property with each couple having an undivided 1/2 interest in the property, and between each couple joint tenants with rights of survivorship.
Show the deed to the title company or an attorney to make sure you get it done right. Otherwise, eventutally there could be a big problem.