Four ways to title a house, for married couples
Under A.R.S. § 33-431, a married Arizona couple has four options for real estate: ordinary community property, joint tenants with right of survivorship, tenants in common, and community property with right of survivorship (CPWROS). Only the two survivorship forms — JTWROS and CPWROS — keep the property out of probate when the first spouse dies. Ordinary community property and tenancy in common both leave the deceased spouse's share subject to probate, even though the couple owned the home together.
CPWROS: probate avoidance plus the full tax step-up
Arizona didn't recognize CPWROS until 1995. Before then, couples who wanted to avoid probate had to use joint tenancy with right of survivorship instead — and gave something up for it. Ordinary community property gets a full income-tax basis step-up on the entire property when the first spouse dies, which can mean real tax savings on a later sale. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship only gets a step-up on the deceased spouse's half. CPWROS combines both advantages: probate avoidance like joint tenancy, and the full step-up like community property. For a married couple who wants both outcomes, CPWROS is generally the more favorable choice of the two survivorship forms.
Either spouse can end it alone
Neither survivorship form is permanent by default. Under § 33-431(D), either spouse can unilaterally terminate the right of survivorship in CPWROS, without the other spouse's consent or even their knowledge, by recording an instrument that severs it — the same basic mechanism that lets one joint tenant sever an ordinary joint tenancy. A couple who wants to be certain their survivorship arrangement is still intact should check the current recorded deed rather than assume nothing has changed.
Get the wording wrong, and it defaults to no survivorship
The consequence of an imprecise deed is more serious in Arizona than a simple technicality. If the granting language doesn't clearly and correctly create JTWROS or CPWROS, the likely legal outcome isn't a fallback to "whatever the couple probably meant" — it's ordinary community property, with no survivorship rights at all. Many deeds aren't drafted by an attorney, and a couple who believed they'd set up survivorship can discover only after a death that the property still has to go through probate.
Unmarried co-owners: tenancy in common by default
For co-owners who aren't married to each other, § 33-431(A) sets tenancy in common as the default — no survivorship — unless the deed expressly declares a joint tenancy with right of survivorship. CPWROS isn't available to unmarried co-owners at all; it's a marital-property form.
A different tool for the same goal: the beneficiary deed
None of these titling choices are the only way to keep Arizona real estate out of probate. See our guide to the Arizona beneficiary deed for a tool that avoids probate without making anyone a co-owner during life at all.