Deeds and Ownership

Yes. Title 25, Chapter 318 of the Arizona Revised Statutes on "Marital and Domestic Relations" regulates the disposition of property. This chapter declares that the court can divide joint assets during a divorce or legal proceeding. These joint assets are referred to as "Community Property" and include property and debt that each spouse acquired from the beginning to the end of the marriage.

Any property or debt acquired outside of Arizona may also be considered as community property if it would have been considered as community property had it been acquired in Arizona. Note that there are certain restrictions to community property, which are addressed in Title 33 Property, Chapter 8: Homestead and Personal Property Exemption.

No. Generally a bank has obtained a judgment to foreclose on a mortgage covering a specific property with the dwelling or building. They only have the right to take the property covered by the mortgage. They have no right to take any personal property.

In some jurisdictions the bank may go back to court for any deficiency if the foreclosure auction brings less than was owed on the mortgage. In that case the bank may win a money judgment that would enable it to take other personal property you own to satisfy the judgment. However, most banks never go that far and are satisfied with the foreclosure.

Copyright law protects authors, and patent law protects inventors.

You cannot change a sheriff's deed to a warranty deed. A sheriff's deed is given pursuant to some action by a creditor against a debtor and it never passes warranty covenents. The debtor may have a statutory period of redemption. The grantee may need to obtain a confirmatory deed from the debtor to obtain good title or have the title quieted by a court decree. You need to consult with an attorney in your jurisdiction who can review the details and explain your options.

Changing names on deeds typically happens for one of several reasons including legal name changes, death, convenience or conveyance. If there is a mortgage, you will need permission from the lender. Any new deed with changed names changes ownership. The people currently named on the deed (grantor) will execute a new deed to the newly named people (grantee). The grantee(s) on the new deed are the new owners.

Deeds should always be drafted by a professional. Errors made by non-professionals can be costly to correct it they can be corrected. As soon as a new deed is executed it should be recorded in the land records.

This is fraud, the deed is not valid and the wife has committed a crime. The husband should notify the holder of the deed (in writing) that the signature on the deed is not his and that the deed is not valid.

Signing another person's name when you do not have the legal capacity to do so is forgery.

No. In the United States there are ten community property states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

You and the "someone else" create and sign a new deed for the home that includes the wife's name, and then you record it with the registry (or assessor, or local equivalent).

Yes, but only if you have defaulted on the mortgage. When you granted the mortgage you gave the lender an interest in the property that it could foreclose if you do not keep up payments on the mortgage. The lender can sell the property to recover the debt.

If your name went on a deed after the mortgage was granted, and the mortgage was granted by the owner of the property at the time of the mortgage, the bank has a superior claim and can take the property if the mortgage isn't paid.

An action to quiet title is a lawsuit filed to establish ownership of real property (land and buildings affixed to land). The plaintiff in a quiet title action seeks a court order that prevents the respondent from making any subsequent claim to the property. Quiet title actions are necessary because real estate may change hands often, and it is not always easy to determine who has title to the property. A quiet title suit is also called a suit to remove a cloud. A cloud is any claim or potential claim to ownership of the property. The cloud can be a claim of full ownership of the property or a claim of partial ownership, such as a lien in an amount that does not exceed the value of the property. A title to real property is clouded if the plaintiff, as the buyer or recipient of real estate, might have to defend her full ownership of the property in court against some party in the future. A landowner may bring a quiet title action regardless of whether the respondent is asserting a present right to gain possession of the premises.

A quit claim deed is a very simple form, you can probably get one online or at the courthouse or a title company. Anyone can file the deed, it is just a matter of taking it to the court house and paying the fees.

No. You cannot defeat the survivorship rights of the co-owner. The property will pass to the surviving joint tenant automatically upon your death bypassing probate.

No. You cannot defeat the survivorship rights of the co-owner. The property will pass to the surviving joint tenant automatically upon your death bypassing probate.

No. You cannot defeat the survivorship rights of the co-owner. The property will pass to the surviving joint tenant automatically upon your death bypassing probate.

No. You cannot defeat the survivorship rights of the co-owner. The property will pass to the surviving joint tenant automatically upon your death bypassing probate.

LE stands for Life Estate, which means the person has the right to the property until their death. REM stands for Remainderman, which means someone is to inherit the property once the current owner expires.

Initially, land is conveyed from a government to private ownership by a land "grant" or a land "patent". The government may or may not include or exclude mineral rights in the land grant or land patent, or such rights may be governed by statutory law. A government may choose to lease or sell such mineral rights separate from the "land" or "real property".

Subsequently, land or real property is conveyed from private ownership to private ownership by "Deed". A private owner could sell off the mineral rights to one party while selling off the land to another party.

What is created is a "chain of title" (the land grant or patent, followed by a series of conveyance deeds).

Generally, land conveyed "fee simple" also conveys the mineral rights from a Grantor to a Grantee, provided that the Grantor possessed such mineral rights to convey.

To find out whether the Grantee has, and the Grantor had, such mineral rights requires tracing back the "chain of title" (usually with a County Clerk of Court or County Recorder of Deeds). One is looking for any deed restrictions or separation of mineral rights in such chain of title. Then one also needs to research whether Federal or State law (statutes) reserve mineral rights to the government through the land grant or land patent or any subsequent transfers.

An important component of "mineral rights" is usually the "right of entry" to exploit such rights. While many mineral rights holdings lay "dormant", they often have a "superior" right to exploit the land as compared with a property owner. Which means that they can choose to excavate a huge hole or otherwise tear up your property to exploit what is underneath it. They "eventually" need to compensate you or to more or less put things back the way they were when they started - but they may have more rights to the land than you have to the property. It depends on the governing law (federal or state) and who granted what to whom and when.

If there is an existing lien on your property you can transfer the property to a new owner but the land is still subject to the lien. The new owner would have to pay the lien. Take care if the lien is a mortgage. In most cases the transfer of a property encumbered by a mortgage will trigger an immediate demand to pay off the mortgage. A property tax lien for delinquent taxes gives the town legal title to the property. You should also make sure your grantee is aware of the lien as it may have a detrimental affect on their use, enjoyment or continued possession of the property. Especially if a title examination will not be performed.

Absolutely. If you are sued and a judgment is rendered against you, a lien can be placed against your paid-off property. Because you have 100% equity in the property, your exemptions may not protect the property fully.

Then it is a separate propety state.

Under a community property system, all property acquired by either spouse during marriage, with a few exceptions (such as property acquired by gift, inheritance, or devise, or the rents and profits of separate property) is treated as "community property" meaning that each spouse owns an undivided 1/2 interest in it. At divorce, all community property is split 50/50 between the spouses. If the property can't be divided in half (basically any property besides money, including houses, cars, and other tangible property), it will be sold, and the spouses will split the proceeds.

In a separate property state, all property acquired by the spouses during marriage belongs to them individually, by default.

At divorce, property will be subject to equitable distribution (not the same as "equal" distribution), meaning that a court will divide property in a manner it thinks is fair, considering the financial situation of each spouse, the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed, etc. This may or may not result in a 50/50 split of the property.

A life interest is a right to the use or benefit of property for the duration of your natural life. The fee interest is owned by the remainderpersons.

An example might be: Betty is a 65 year old widow whose children are grown and have families of their own. She wants to make sure her boyfriend Ralph has a roof over his head if she dies but she wants her children to ultimately inherit the home. She could create a life estate in her will which grants Ralph full use of the property until his passing and then the remainder is to go to her children. Ralph does not have the right to sell or dispose of the property. Ralph also has the duty to reasonably protect the property's value. Once he dies, the property is owned by the remainderpersons free and clear of the life estate. No other action is necessary.

Yes. Property that is owned as joint tenants with the right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant bypassing probate. A co-owner's interest cannot be gifted by a will.

Yes. Property that is owned as joint tenants with the right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant bypassing probate. A co-owner's interest cannot be gifted by a will.

Yes. Property that is owned as joint tenants with the right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant bypassing probate. A co-owner's interest cannot be gifted by a will.

Yes. Property that is owned as joint tenants with the right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant bypassing probate. A co-owner's interest cannot be gifted by a will.

As an owner of an undivided interest in real property you have the right to the use and possession of the whole property. If there are three owners and the property is sold or partitioned you have the right to one-third of the net proceeds. You have the right to one-third of the profits.

There is no 'inheritance' from a joint tenancy. When two people own property as joint tenants with the right of survivorship and one dies the survivor automatically owns the property. Think of it this way: When one owner dies their interest in the property disappears leaving the survivor as the sole owner.