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 Oklahoma Statutes (Last Updated: September 18, 2014)
 Title 58. PROBATE PROCEDURE

  § 58-912. Termination of joint tenancy or life tenancy with remainder interest by affidavit.  

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  • A.  If title to any interest in real property is held by two or more persons in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, including but not limited to mortgages owned by two or more persons in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, any surviving joint tenant or the personal representative or duly appointed attorney in fact of any surviving joint tenant, may evidence the termination of the interest of a deceased joint tenant in such real property by filing the documents described in subsection C of this section.

    B.  If title to any real property is held by two or more persons where at least one of them holds a life tenancy interest in such property and at least one of them holds a remainder interest in such property, any surviving life tenant or remainderman, or the personal representative or duly appointed attorney of any survivor of them may evidence the termination of the interest of any deceased life tenant in such real property by filing the documents described in subsection C of this section.

    C.  A person entitled, by subsection A or B of this section, to evidence the termination of the interest of a decedent in real property pursuant to this section may do so by filing in the office of the county clerk of the county in which said real property is located, the following:

    1.  A certified copy of the certificate of death of the joint tenant or life tenant issued by the court clerk as prescribed in Article 3 of the Public Health Code, Section 1-301 et seq. of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or by the State Department of Health or comparable agency of the place of the death of the joint tenant or life tenant;

    2.  An affidavit by the surviving joint tenant, life tenant or remainderman or the personal representative or duly appointed attorney in fact of the surviving joint tenant, life tenant or remainderman describing the real property, stating that the decedent named in such certificate of death is one and the same person as the deceased joint tenant or life tenant named in a previously recorded document which created or purported to create such joint tenancy or life tenancy in such real property and identifying such recorded document by book and page where recorded, that the survivor making or on whose behalf the affidavit is made and the decedent were husband and wife, if such is the case, and the date of death of the deceased joint tenant or life tenant.  If the affidavit is filed by a personal representative or duly appointed attorney in fact, the letters of administration, letters testamentary, letters of guardianship or the power of attorney shall accompany the affidavit and be filed with the county clerk.  An affidavit properly sworn before a notarial officer shall, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 26 of Title 16 of the Oklahoma Statutes, be received for record and recorded by the county clerk without having been acknowledged and, when recorded, it shall be effective as if it had been acknowledged.  An affidavit filed either before or after the effective date of this act which was either acknowledged or sworn or both acknowledged and sworn before a notarial officer is hereby validated and the title to such real property shall be deemed marketable unless otherwise defective; and

    3.  If such real property is held in joint tenancy other than by two persons only who were husband and wife or other than by two persons only who were husband and wife with one as the life tenant and the other as the remainderman, a waiver or release issued by the Oklahoma Tax Commission of the estate tax lien as to the deceased joint tenant or life tenant must be filed with the affidavit required by paragraph 2 of this subsection, unless the estate tax lien has otherwise been released by operation of law.  For deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2010, no release of estate tax liability is necessary pursuant to Section 5 of this act.

    D.  The filing of the documents described in subsection C of this section shall constitute conclusive evidence of the death of such joint tenant or life tenant and of the termination of the interest of such deceased joint tenant or life tenant in such real property.  The title of such real property shall be deemed marketable unless otherwise defective.

Added by Laws 1974, c. 240, § 1.  Amended by Laws 1975, c. 12, § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1975; Laws 1980, c. 286, § 2, eff. Oct. 1, 1980; Laws 1983, c. 20, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1983; Laws 1984, c. 231, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1984; Laws 1986, c. 227, § 9, eff. Nov. 1, 1986; Laws 1988, c. 73, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1988; Laws 1992, c. 274, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1992; Laws 1993, c. 345, § 11, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Laws 1996, c. 339, § 15, eff. Nov. 1, 1996; Laws 2010, c. 436, § 3, eff. July 1, 2010.