Arizona Community Property with Right of Survivorship Deed

The same married couple appears on both sides of this deed. The Arizona Community Property with Right of Survivorship Deed recites two spouses as grantors and the same two spouses as grantees: the couple conveys Arizona real property to themselves and expressly declares that they hold it as community property with right of survivorship under A.R.S. Section 33-431(C). One recorded instrument changes how the couple holds title, so that on the death of a spouse the entire estate vests in the surviving spouse without probate of the deceased spouse's half.

The words that create survivorship

Plain community property, the presumptive estate of an Arizona married couple under A.R.S. Section 25-211, carries no survivorship. When a spouse dies, the deceased spouse's half interest passes by will or intestacy, which ordinarily means probate before clear title reaches the survivor. Section 33-431(C) gives married couples a different estate, created only by express words: a grant, transfer, or devise that declares the estate to be community property with right of survivorship. The statute permits a husband and wife, holding title as community property or otherwise, to make that grant to themselves. This survivorship deed carries that operation in printed operative text: the conveyance from the spouses to themselves, the express declaration of the survivorship estate, and the statement that on a spouse's death the estate vests in the surviving spouse as Section 33-431 provides.

Community property that keeps its character

Arizona also recognizes joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and married couples sometimes hold title that way. The community property form of survivorship keeps the property's community character while adding the survivorship incident, a combination whose consequences include the basis treatment federal income tax law gives community property at a spouse's death. The declaration printed in this deed names the estate exactly as the statute names it and states that the spouses do not take as joint tenants or as tenants in common, leaving one unambiguous vesting in the record.

What the deed recites

The form recites exactly two record owners, married to each other, and provides two signature lines and two acknowledgment certificates carrying the Arizona short form certificate language of A.R.S. Section 41-265, so the spouses may acknowledge on different dates or before different notaries. It recites no monetary consideration and contains no words of warranty within the meaning of Section 33-402. Couples whose existing deed recites plain community property, a joint tenancy between the spouses, or a tenancy in common between the spouses present the re-titling pattern this deed recites; the estate exists between married persons only. A conveyance by which one spouse alone grants to both spouses follows a different, single grantor architecture; this form is not set up that way.

Recording with the exemption notation

Arizona recorders refuse a deed unless an Affidavit of Property Value is appended or the instrument bears an exemption notation under A.R.S. Sections 11-1133 and 11-1134. A transfer from a husband and wife or one of them to both husband and wife to create an estate in community property with right of survivorship is exempt under Section 11-1134(B)(10), and this deed prints the required notation, A.R.S. 11-1134 B10, on its face beneath the legal description, where Department of Revenue instructions place it. No affidavit accompanies the deed at recording. The form also follows the statewide format statute, Section 11-480: a caption naming the instrument, letter size pages within the 8.5 by 14 inch maximum, print above the 10 point minimum, and a first page top margin exceeding the required 2 inches. The deed is recorded with the county recorder where the property is located for a flat thirty dollar fee that includes the two dollar transfer fee.

A survivorship the record can undo

The declared estate operates at the first death, and Arizona law keeps it flexible in the meantime. Either spouse may extinguish the survivorship by recording the affidavit terminating right of survivorship described in Section 33-431(D), and a divorce or annulment severs it under Section 14-2804. At the surviving spouse's death, the property belongs to the survivor's estate; the deed reaches the first death only.

This package contains the community property with right of survivorship deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example showing the deed filled in for a realistic Maricopa County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every section of the form, the signing and notarization rules, and the recording steps. The materials describe Arizona law in general terms and are not legal advice.