Santa Cruz County Quitclaim Deed (Married Grantor with Non-Owner Spouse Joinder) Form

One of the two signature lines on this Arizona quitclaim deed belongs to a person who may hold no interest at all. The form is drafted for a married grantor whose name stands alone on the deed of record: the grantor conveys with the quitclaim words the statute supplies, A.R.S. Section 33-402(1), while the grantor's spouse signs a joinder that quit claims to the same grantee any interest the spouse may hold. Conveyance and release travel in one instrument.

The Signature That Settles the Community Question

Record title in one name does not answer how Arizona characterizes the property. A.R.S. Section 25-211 presumes property acquired during marriage to be community, and Section 25-214(C) calls for both spouses to join in disposing of community real property; a home bought before the wedding may carry community contributions, and recitals of sole and separate ownership may rest on facts pointing the other way. Arizona case law treats a community real property transfer that one spouse never joined as voidable at that spouse's instance. The joinder line closes the question on the face of the record: however the property is characterized, both spouses have conveyed.

What the Joinder Recites

The joining spouse is not presented as a co-owner. The deed recites that the joining spouse holds no record title, joins to evidence the joinder of both spouses described in Section 25-214(C), and quit claims any interest the spouse may have, including any community interest arising under Section 25-211. The joinder conveys and releases; it promises nothing about title, and it does not recharacterize property that is separate under A.R.S. Section 25-213. The grantee receives the grantor's interest and whatever interest the spouse held, with no covenant of warranty from either signer.

How the Form Is Arranged

The instrument carries one grantor block, one joining spouse block, a grantee section with its own vesting line, and two signature lines, each with a separate certificate on the Arizona short form of A.R.S. Section 41-265, so the spouses may appear before different notaries or on different dates. The configuration is deliberately asymmetric: the form recites exactly one married record owner, and the second signature belongs to a spouse who holds none of the record title. It is not set up for two owners whose names both appear on the vesting deed and who convey together, and it is not arranged as a conveyance running from one spouse to the other; the grantee here is a third party, and the spouses stand together on the granting side. A record owner deeding the family home to an adult child while the other spouse releases any community interest, and a seller whose escrow file notes a title insurer's request that both spouses execute, present the pattern this deed recites. The completed example works the first pattern through a Maricopa County parcel and claims the exemption notation A.R.S. 11-1134 B3, the code for a residential transfer between parent and child with only nominal actual consideration, on the line positioned directly under the legal description.

Through the Recorder's Door

The deed records with the county recorder of the county where the property sits, for the flat thirty dollar fee of A.R.S. Section 11-475, which already folds in the state's two dollar transfer fee. Where the transaction is exempt under Section 11-1134, the exemption code on the face of the deed takes the place of the Affidavit of Property Value; where consideration actually changes hands, the completed affidavit rides with the deed under Section 11-1133. The form is drafted to the Section 11-480 format standards, and the reserved area at the top of the first page carries the requesting party and the after-recording return address where the statute permits them.

The download supplies the blank deed as a fillable PDF, the completed Maricopa County example, and a guide covering every section, the joinder mechanics, the vesting choices, and recording, including the notary thumbprint and recording identification rules arriving September 12, 2026 under Laws 2026, Chapter 31. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.