Arizona Affidavit Evidencing Termination of Joint Tenancy
Arizona records a survivorship affidavit under A.R.S. Section 33-431(F) with the county recorder where the property sits. The statute requires both the affidavit and an attached death certificate, and it asks for the cause of death on the face of the affidavit.
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Introduction
Cause of death is one of the five items A.R.S. Section 33-431(F)(1) puts on the face of this affidavit, and it is the line people leave blank. The statute itself never gives the document a name. What it says is that where a joint tenant has died, the termination or extinguishment by death of that tenant's joint tenancy with right of survivorship may be evidenced by the recordation of both of two items in the office of the recorder of the county or counties where the real property is located: an affidavit executed by one or more of the surviving joint tenants, and an attached death certificate of the deceased joint tenant. Both, not either. The Arizona Superior Court in Pima County publishes the affidavit as Form PR-132 and titles it Affidavit Evidencing Termination of Joint Tenancy, and that court's page says it is not filed in Superior Court but recorded at the recorder's office, and must be signed and notarized. The five contents are the deceased joint tenant's name, the date of death, the cause of death, a description of the instrument that created the right of survivorship including the date it was recorded and the county recorder's book and page or instrument reference number, and the legal description of the property. Find the old deed before you start, because three of those five come off it. Section 33-431 does caption one affidavit, in quotation marks: affidavit terminating right of survivorship, at subsections (D) and (E). A living joint tenant or spouse signs that one to sever survivorship before any death, so it is the opposite of what a survivor needs, and it is the one vendors sell. Yours is the uncaptioned subsection (F). If instead the property reaches you under an Arizona beneficiary deed, stop here: Section 33-405(A) transfers the interest to the grantee beneficiary effective on the owner's death and prescribes no affidavit at all, and Section 33-405(D) makes a surviving joint tenant's rights prevail over a named grantee beneficiary.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Arizona's statute never names this document. A.R.S. Section 33-431(F)(1) calls it only an affidavit executed by one or more of the surviving joint tenants. Recording it puts the death where a title searcher finds it, so the county index stops showing a dead person as a current owner. It transfers nothing: survivorship vested at the moment of death by the words already on the deed.
- 2
Two items get recorded, not one. Section 33-431(F) calls for the recordation of both the affidavit and an attached death certificate of the deceased joint tenant. A certificate recorded alone is not the statutory route, and neither is an affidavit with nothing attached.
- 3
Five contents are specified, and the fifth is the unusual one: the name of the deceased joint tenant, the date of death, a description of the instrument by which the right of survivorship was created including the date it was recorded and the county recorder's book and page or instrument reference number, the legal description of the real property, and the cause of death of the deceased joint tenant.
- 4
The recorder, not the court. Subsection (F) sends it to the office of the recorder of the county or counties where the real property is located, and the Arizona Superior Court in Pima County states that it is not filed in Superior Court. Counties plural matters: a parcel crossing a county line is recorded in each.
- 5
Pima County's Superior Court publishes it as Form PR-132, Affidavit Evidencing Termination of Joint Tenancy. That number and title are county sourced. Whether a statewide version exists could not be established either way, because the azcourts.gov self-service form table renders through a script that returned no rows, so treat PR-132 as one court's form and start from your own recorder.
- 6
Permitted, not required, and subsection (F) sets no deadline: the termination by death may be evidenced by recordation. Skipping it forfeits nothing, and leaves a deceased owner of record for the next title examiner to query.
- 7
The fee is statutory rather than county by county. A.R.S. Section 11-475(A)(1) sets $30 per instrument for recording papers required or authorized by law to be recorded where no other fee is specified, and Section 11-475(B) provides that the amount already includes the charge under Section 11-475.01.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Affidavit of Death in Arizona, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Affidavit of Death guide walks through them.
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Arizona Requirements for Affidavit of Death
The Name of the Deceased Joint Tenant, With Every Variant on the Deed
First of the five items A.R.S. Section 33-431(F)(1) requires. Give the full legal name as the death certificate states it, plus every spelling that appears in the recorded instrument, with a statement that they are the same person. A deed reading one form of the name against a death certificate reading another is the usual reason one of these has to be re-recorded.
The Date of Death
Second of the five. The date as the attached death certificate states it. Section 33-431(F) sets no deadline for recording the affidavit, so a death years in the past is not a problem to solve here, but the date still has to match the certificate exactly.
The Cause of Death
Third of the five, and the one that surprises people. Section 33-431(F)(1) requires the cause of death of the deceased joint tenant on the face of the affidavit. Take it from the attached death certificate and copy it as written rather than summarizing. An affidavit drafted from an out-of-state form will almost certainly be missing this line.
The Instrument That Created the Right of Survivorship, With Its Recording Data
Fourth of the five, and the longest. Section 33-431(F)(1) asks for a description of the instrument by which the right of survivorship was created, including the date the instrument was recorded and the county recorder's book and page or instrument reference number. Pull that deed from the recorder before drafting. Its wording is what created the joint tenancy, or the community property with right of survivorship under Section 33-431(C), and it supplies the legal description too.
The Legal Description of the Real Property
Fifth of the five. Copy the legal description character for character from the instrument identified above rather than describing the property from memory, and add the street address and the assessor parcel number so the recorder and the assessor can match it. Where the parcel lies in more than one county, Section 33-431(F) speaks of the county or counties, so the affidavit is recorded in each.
An Attached Death Certificate
Section 33-431(F) requires the recordation of both items, and paragraph 2 is an attached death certificate of the deceased joint tenant. Note what the statute does not say: it says death certificate, not certified copy, and the word certified appears nowhere in Section 33-431. Recorders and title insurers commonly want a certified copy regardless, so order certified copies from vital records, but do not treat the certified-copy demand as the statute's own requirement.
A Caption and a Format the Recorder Will Accept
A.R.S. Section 11-480(A) lists the only defects that let an Arizona recorder reject an instrument when it is presented: no caption briefly stating the nature of the instrument, not an original or not legible enough to copy from, no original signatures, or a sheet larger than eight and one-half by fourteen inches or set in type smaller than ten point. Section 11-480(B) requires a half-inch margin all round and Section 11-480(C) reserves a two-inch top margin on page one. Caption it carefully: Section 11-480(A)(1) provides that the recorder has no obligation to index the instrument under any subject index category unless that category is in the caption.
A Signature and a Notarization, and the Right Statute to Sign Under
The Arizona Superior Court in Pima County, which publishes this affidavit as Form PR-132, states that the document must be signed and notarized. Sign in front of a notary. Two cautions. First, subsection (F) itself carries no express oath wording, so whether the statute compels swearing is an attorney question rather than a settled point. Second, make sure you are signing the right instrument: the only affidavit Section 33-431 actually names is the affidavit terminating right of survivorship at subsections (D) and (E), which a living co-owner signs under oath to sever survivorship, and it is not what a survivor records after a death.
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