Joint Tenants With Survivorship Vs Tenants In Common In Phoenix
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In Arizona, tenancy in common is the default classification for married couples seeking joint ownership. The property can be divided evenly, or the owners can control differing shares if needs be (e.g. two business partners own 25% each, and the third owns 50%).
The state of Arizona is a community property state. Property law in Arizona falls under ARS Title 33 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, and joint tenancy with the right of survivorship is under ARS Title 33-431 of the same Statutes.
The key difference is in post-mortem property sale taxation. Joint tenancy triggers capital gains tax on property sales after a spouse's death. CPWROS exempts it. Additionally, joint tenancy is open to anyone, while community property is usually for married couples.
Tenants in common gives you more protections and you can specify in a deed of trust what you would want to happen in the event of relationship breakdown (eg if one of you has first dibs to buy the other out, or a time limit on doing so etc) which is definitely better to decide now whilst you still like each other!
Joint tenancy is most common among married couples because it helps property owners avoid probate. Without joint tenancy, a spouse would have to wait for their partner's Last Will to go through a legal review process—which can take months or even years.
A joint tenancy is severed by (a) mortgage or creation of a deed of trust, (b) transfer to a revocable or irrevocable trust, (c) contract to convey the property, or (d) destruction of one or more of the four unities; and the result is the failure of the right of survivorship. In re the Estate of Estelle, 122 Ariz.
Joint tenancy is most common among married couples because it helps property owners avoid probate. Without joint tenancy, a spouse would have to wait for their partner's Last Will to go through a legal review process—which can take months or even years.
Further tenancy in common allows parties to hold unequal shares of property interest. Joint tenancy requires each co-owner to hold equal shares of property. Further, co-owners must transfer the deed at the same time. In this sense, joint tenancy is rigid compared to tenancy in common.
Tenants in common gives you more protections and you can specify in a deed of trust what you would want to happen in the event of relationship breakdown (eg if one of you has first dibs to buy the other out, or a time limit on doing so etc) which is definitely better to decide now whilst you still like each other!
