Is Community Property With the
Right of Survivorship Right For You?

Arizone Title Insurance Policies

Community property with the right of survivorship is the method my husband and I have always taken title when we have worked with an Arizona title insurance company during our home purchases.

You receive the same protection as community property, but in the worst case scenario of one of us passing away the surviving spouse will not have to go through probate in order to obtain full ownership of the property.

Community Property with the Right of Survivorship is one method of taking title in Arizona.

Community property with the right of survivorship means that you and your spouse own exactly one half of an undivided interest in the property, but upon death of one of the spouses the surviving spouse is conveyed the entire property.

Alright, this is again kind of confusing for those of you that don't deal with this stuff every day.

Just like with community property you must be married and live in one of the nine states that recognize this method taking title. Arizona is one of them.

You and your spouse each own 50% of the property, and you can not sell your half to someone else. This is the undivided portion. All decisions about the property must be made in agreement together.

The difference between community property and adding the right of survivorship is that there is no required court action upon the death of a spouse. The surviving spouse automatically receives 100% ownership of the entire property. The main benefit is avoiding court proceedings.

Again this is another option that may sound better than community property, but then again the spouse which passes away first is losing their ability to will their half of the property to a child or someone else. You are giving up this right, but it may not be a problem. After all when you are buying property there is a good chance you are a healthy, happily married couple. It is difficult to even force yourself to think of issues like death and even more difficult to try and plan for it.

If you haven't read up on community property you should so that you can understand the differences between these two methods of taking title.

Once finished reading about community property with the right of survivorship you can return to our Arizona title section, or back to our home page to continue researching Peoria Arizona real estate.