District Of Columbia Affidavit of Death (Tenant by the Entirety)

When one spouse or registered domestic partner dies owning District of Columbia real property with the other as tenants by the entirety, the survivor already owns the whole. Nothing is conveyed and nothing is probated. What the land records do not yet show is that the first death happened. This District of Columbia Affidavit of Death (Tenant by the Entirety) is the sworn statement the surviving tenant by the entirety records, with a certified death certificate attached, to put that event and the survivor's status of record at the property's square and lot.

A survivorship the District does not presume

District law starts every co-ownership as a tenancy in common. D.C. Code § 42-516(a) makes an estate granted to two or more persons a tenancy in common unless the deed expressly declares otherwise, spouses and domestic partners included; § 42-516(c) then allows a tenancy by the entirety to be created in any conveyance to spouses or to domestic partners. Survivorship is an incident of that estate under District common law. The D.C. Court of Appeals in In re Estate of Hamilton (2023) described it as essentially a joint tenancy modified by the theory that husband and wife are one person, and recounted spouses who held by the entirety until the wife's death, at which point the husband became the sole owner. Because the deed's words decide the estate, the affidavit recites the grantee clause of the recorded deed, vesting words included, with the deed's date, recording date, and instrument number.

Why the death certificate rides with the affidavit

The Recorder of Deeds has one office for the whole District, and its published answer for a transfer of title from a surviving tenant by the entirety names a newly drafted deed, the Form FP-7/C tax return, a copy of the death certificate, and the recorded prior deed, adding that a recital of the date of death in a deed does not take the place of the certificate. The affidavit is built around that rule: it states that a certified copy is attached, carries the date and place of death from it, and once recorded leaves the certificate in the chain of title where a later closing or title examination finds it.

One affiant, one estate

The form fixes one configuration as printed text: a single affiant who is the surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner of the decedent and who held the property with the decedent as tenants by the entirety under a recorded deed. Its sworn statements recite that the marriage or partnership continued to the death, that the tenancy had not been terminated by divorce, termination of the partnership, conveyance, or otherwise, and that the survivor now holds the entire estate. One signature block and one notarial certificate follow. Widows, widowers, and surviving registered domestic partners present the record pattern this affidavit recites; surviving joint tenants who were never spouses, and the heirs of a tenant in common, hold under different estates that this form is not set up to describe.

Sworn, not acknowledged

The certificate on this form is the verification on oath or affirmation of D.C. Code § 1-1231.15(3), the short form that begins Signed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on, with a reserved area for the official seal that § 1-1231.14(b)(1) places on a paper certificate. A survivor who swears to the affidavit in Maryland or Virginia appears before an officer there, and § 1-1231.10 gives that act the same effect as a District notary's. No one else signs: dower and curtesy were abolished in 2001, there is no homestead joinder rule and no witness requirement, and the affidavit, conveying no estate, carries no grantor's seal scroll.

Recording at the Recorder of Deeds

The affidavit records at the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, 1101 4th Street SW for the Recorder's flat fee plus the $5 surcharge of § 42-1211, $30 in all at the current published figure. The District's recordation and transfer taxes are imposed on deeds, and the FP-7/C requirement is written for deeds, deeds of trust, modifications, and long leases; the affidavit transfers nothing and is recorded for notice.

The package includes the fillable affidavit, a completed example filled in for a realistic District of Columbia fact pattern, and a guide that walks through each numbered section, the governing statutes, and the Recorder's requirements. This description and the guide describe the form and the law in general terms; they are not legal advice.