Santa Cruz County Warranty Deed (Married Grantor with Spouse Joinder) Form

The Arizona Warranty Deed (Married Grantor with Spouse Joinder) is built around its second signature line. One married grantor holds record title to Arizona real property and gives the statutory warranty of title; the grantor's spouse signs a labeled joinder block, because A.R.S. 25-214(C)(1) conditions every disposition of an interest in community real property on the joinder of both spouses. The deed collects the conveyance, the full warranty, and the statutory spousal joinder in one recordable instrument.

Why Arizona Puts a Second Signature on This Deed

Arizona presumes that property acquired by either spouse during the marriage is community property (A.R.S. 25-211), and the presumption follows the property even when the recorded deed names only one spouse. The Arizona Supreme Court held in Geronimo Hotel and Lodge v. Putzi that a transfer of community real property signed by one spouse alone is voidable by the spouse who did not join, and that the signing spouse can remain personally liable on the deed's warranty out of separate property. A title examiner reads a deed from a married seller whose spouse never signed as a defect that can surface years after closing. The joinder signature closes that gap at the signing table, on the face of the recorded instrument.

One Titleholder, Two Signers, Two Certificates

The form recites one grantor and one joining spouse in separate sections. Section 1 carries the titled spouse's name, marital status recital, and mailing address; Section 2 names the joining spouse; and the operative section states in words what each signature does. The grantor conveys the property and warrants the title; the spouse joins in the conveyance under A.R.S. 25-214(C), consents to the disposition, and conveys any interest of that spouse's own, community or otherwise. Two signature blocks and two acknowledgment certificates follow, so the spouses may sign on different dates or before different notaries. The ownership pattern that presents this architecture in the record is community real property titled in one spouse's name, a common posture where the home was purchased during the marriage and the acquisition deed named only one spouse. The form is not set up for an unmarried grantor, for a married owner conveying separate property acquired before the marriage or by gift, devise, or descent, or for spouses who both appear on record title; each of those patterns presents a different signer configuration.

The Warranty the Grantor Alone Stands Behind

The operative section pairs the express Arizona warranty, title warranted against all persons whomsoever under A.R.S. 33-402(3), with the two implied covenants that A.R.S. 33-435 attaches through the word convey. The deed states plainly that the warranty is the grantor's own promise: the joining spouse consents and conveys, while the obligation that reaches every defect in the chain of title rests on the titled spouse who gives it. The exceptions section defines the edges of that promise; matters listed there, current year taxes, patent reservations, recorded easements and restrictions, sit outside the warranty, and whatever is left unlisted stays inside it.

Built for the Recorder's Counter

The first page reserves its top two inches for the recorder and prints the recording requester and the after-recording return address in the left 3.5 inches of that band, the placement A.R.S. 11-480(C) allots for exactly that information, so nothing on page one competes with the recording stamp. A notation line sits beneath the legal description for the A.R.S. 11-1134 exemption code on an exempt transaction; a sale for value instead reaches the recorder with the Affidavit of Property Value, Department of Revenue Form 82162, a state form prepared separately and submitted alongside the deed rather than included in this package. The statewide recording fee under A.R.S. 11-475 is thirty dollars, with the two dollar real estate transfer fee already inside it, and recording in the county where the land sits is what gives the deed its priority against later purchasers under A.R.S. 33-411 and 33-412.

The download package contains three files: the fillable Arizona warranty deed configured for a married grantor with spouse joinder, a completed example showing a Pima County sale from the grantor block through both notary certificates, and a plain language guide that walks through each section, the community property rules behind the joinder, and the recording steps. The materials describe Arizona law in general terms and are not legal advice.