Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Arkansas

Re: Property owned by unmarried couples

First, the laws of Arkansas and California on this subject are different -- California is a community-property state, Arkansas isn't. This answer is based on California law.

It would be helpful to know whether either owner believed he/she were married to the other. Since this isn't stated, I assume that both are clear that they are NOT married.

The residence of the three individuals involved before, at, and after purchase of the property may also affect the applicable law and their respective rights.

Then, there is an issue involving the source of the money used to purchase the property. If a married man uses community funds to buy a 1/2 interest in property, that 1/2 interest probably belongs to the community -- meaning in effect that the spouse has a 1/4 interest. The date of separation may have some significance, but the source of the purchase money is very important. An attorney (or court) examining the situation would look at the source of the down-payment as well as the equity portion of mortgage payments (if any).

The erroneous designation of the couple as husband and wife may not have all that much significance. There is a good chance a court would disregard it (consider it to have no legal significance) unless such designation was done to defraud someone (e.g. a spouse). The parties will probably be regarded as owning the property as tenants in common rather than as H&W.

Therefore, the deed is probably valid even though it contains a misstatement as to the marital status of the owners. The main legal problem here is likely to be the ownership interest of the spouse, despite the separation.

A deed containing errors can be corrected by the court in the county where the property is located.

Putting someone 'on deed' is in theory simple but in practice raises several issues -- gift taxes being only one -- and here you have unclear ownership and hence a questionable interest in the property to give away or to sell.

Altogether, there are too many legal issues presented here and too many facts missing to give a meaningful answer. The entire matter should be reviewed by an attorney in the county where the property is located.