Does a Last Will & Testament replace the Spouse/Grantee on a Warranty Deed?

[Jim937]

Arizona

This property a Home & Lot is in Maricopa county, Arizona.
Note: this property has an exsisting morgage.

Husband passed away. Husband & Wife are Divorced.

The Warranty Deed: Grantee = Husband, Spouse Equal or to Survivor.

The Will: Par 3 = All property owned by me at my death is hereby Devised to my Daughter, who is also named the Personal Representive.

Is Spouse entitled to 50% of the property or 100% or Nothing?

Best Regards,
Jim937

 

[nextwife]

What was awarded in the final divorce decree? EXACTLY what did the title read (minus actual names)?

 

[Jim937]

Hi,

I'm not aware of any final devorce document, I will need to contact the Spouse/Wife she lives in England.

The Warranty Deed reads:

The Warranty Deed: Grantor = Husband
The Warranty Deed: Grantee = Husband, Spouse Equal or to Survivor.

Best Regards,
Jim937

 

[Jim937]

reply from a Lawyer here at Free Advise

I received the following reply from a Lawyer here at Free Advise:

Not really sure what you are asking.

Are you asking whether a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship arrangement in a deed controls over the contents of a will? If the deed is sent up in this form of joint ownership it is controlling and it trumps anything that the will states.

The key here is that wills only speak to assets held in the sole name of the maker. Joint property, beneficiary designations and payable on death arrangements control those assets and a will really has no impact on these assets.

Note: This reply is what I was inquiring about, it's perfect!

 

[justalayman]

as the lawyer stated: your question is unclear and as such, any response you get may be faulty if the believed understanding of your question was in error.

This property a Home & Lot is in Maricopa county, Arizona.
Note: this property has an exsisting morgage.

Husband passed away. Husband & Wife are Divorced.

The Warranty Deed: Grantee = Husband, Spouse Equal or to Survivor.

The Will: Par 3 = All property owned by me at my death is hereby Devised to my Daughter, who is also named the Personal Representive.

Is Spouse entitled to 50% of the property or 100% or Nothing?

when there is a joint tenancy, it is stated as such. Did did state:

(husband) and (wife) as joint tenants with rights of survivorship?

If so, then the wife assumes 100% ownership at the time of death of the husband BUT if there was a divorce and the divorce directed some division of the property different from that statement, any possible legatee could have an action to refute the rights of survivorship. It would be in the best interest of any involved party to engage a lawyer to review, exactly, the facts of the situation.

 

[Jim937]

Warranty Deed

Hi,

The Names on the Warranty Deed reads:

Grantor = Husband [sole owned]
Grantee = Husband, Spouse "Equal or to Survivor".

Equal = If this property is Sold they share the proceeds 50% each.
Survivor = With right of Survivorship.

This deed indicates the property was NOT Jointly Owned since the Husband is the only name on the "Grantor" line.

I'm working to obtain Divorce documents.

Thank you for your help,
Jim

 

[justalayman]

Hi,

The Names on the Warranty Deed reads:

Grantor = Husband [sole owned]
Grantee = Husband, Spouse "Equal or to Survivor".

Equal = If this property is Sold they share the proceeds 50% each.
Survivor = With right of Survivorship.

This deed indicates the property was NOT Jointly Owned since the Husband is the only name on the "Grantor" line.

I'm working to obtain Divorce documents.

Thank you for your help,
Jim

your other thread states something completely different.

the the fact there is only one grantor on the deed does not remove the possibility of it creating a joint tenancy. . It does not affect the possibility at all.


so, do you have access to the deed? If so, check to see if there was a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship or if it was a beneficiary deed. Unless it was one of the two, then the husbands share passes to his heirs or legatees. That would leave wife with a 50% share shared with whomever inherits the husbands share. If it was a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, or a beneficiary deed constructed to pass complete title to the wife, then the wife would own 100% of the interest in the property. If it passed something less than his 50% share, then it is what it is.

and there may be a problem with the verbiage in the deed. In your other thread you stated the husband purchased the property after the divorce and added the former wifes name to the title. If so, listing the grantees as XXX and XXXX, husband and wife may be a problem.

 

[Jim937]

My Niece is the executor of the estate.

Thank you justalaymen, I've written what is on the Warrenty Deed as written word for word & still it's confusing to you & others, I don't know what else to say..."Equal or to Survivor" the word Joint tenancy is not written.

This whole matter is a mess I should have stepped in sooner for my former sister-in-law. The fact is I don't want any of the assets left by my brother "Nothing" besides I'm not mentioned in the Will by name.

My Niece is the executor of the estate, hers is the only name on the will. I fear she has handled the estate in error and because of this the house will go into foreclosure, if not already in forclosure.

How can I stop ALL proceeding against the property. The mortgage company will not talk to me about the account without out a letter from the executor, more time wasted.

Now the Executor wants to give away all the Assets to family & friends "Before" the Liabilities are paid for, this sounds illegal.

Please any recommendation by you could be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Jim

 

[justalayman]

if you have no personal interest in the situation, it would be best for you to stay out of it. Only an injured party, or a party that claims they will be injured by an improper action has standing to argue improper actions by the executor.

can you do this:


write exactly, word for word, the beginning section of the deed, of course leaving out actual names. Do not replace a name with wife or husband but something such as [name] or XXXX. The use of the words husband and wife could be important and I am trying to reduce confusion as to what is actually written.

You are writing small portions of the deed you believe are the only important parts. I think you are leaving out parts that are important, not realizing they are.

also, you need to clear up the differences in your two threads (and this is simply one reason multiple threads are discouraged). in relation to the purchase of the property, when were the people married and divorced? If the purchase of the property was prior to the divorce, what the divorce decree says to the issue of property division is critical to the issue so if that timeline is germane, then you must have the divorce decree to be able to figure out what is correct.

 

[anteater]

Now the Executor wants to give away all the Assets to family & friends "Before" the Liabilities are paid for, this sounds illegal.

That does tend to get legitimate creditors a bit ticked off.

 

[Jim937]

justalayman

@ justalayman, I sent you a Private message.

Because this is so complex I will advise my former sister-in-law to hire a lawyer here in the USA, since she lives in the UK. Although I believe it is too late for that action.

Thank ALL for the advice,
Jim

 

[Jim937]

The Divorce papers.

But the order of the court from the divorce could radically change who actually owned anything. Without that important bit of information, along with a lot of other pertinent information, nobody can actually give you an accurate answer.

Hi,

You are 100% correct justalayman:

I received an email from my former sister-in-law per my request for documents. I will share this bit of info it's FYG:

"The divorce papers say that on the death of a party, the deceased share of the property goes to the deceased estate [not the survivor].

My daughter, who has a law degree and worked on house conveyencing, says that the divorce papers are propably severing the arrangement on the original deed."

It's all finished for me I can go back to watching Movies & playing World of Warcraft.

Best wishes to all who replied,
Jim

 

[anteater]

I really don't want to opine on the interpretation of the deed....

But what became of the statement you made in another post?

The husband was devoriced at the time he Purchased this property. He added the former spouse name to insure that she got the property when he died.

How can the divorce agreement affect a property acquired post-divorce?

 

[HomeGuru]

@ justalayman, I sent you a Private message.

Because this is so complex I will advise my former sister-in-law to hire a lawyer here in the USA, since she lives in the UK. Although I believe it is too late for that action.

Thank ALL for the advice,
Jim

**A: good idea.

 

[Jim937]

ooops, They were seperated

I really don't want to opine on the interpretation of the deed....

But what became of the statement you made in another post?


How can the divorce agreement affect a property acquired post-divorce?

Hi,

Sorry I should have said...They were seperated when he purchased the home, they got back together, it was later after a few years that they got a divorce.

Best Wishes,
Jim