Oklahoma § 58-912 - Termination of joint tenancy or life tenancy with

§ 58-912. Termination of joint tenancy or life tenancy with

remainder interest by affidavit.

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

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 58. Probate Procedure

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

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 58. Probate Procedure

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.