Can you buy or sell a house without your spouse in Scottsdale, Arizona?

For most married couples, the answer in Arizona is that both spouses have to be part of it. The statute on managing property says each spouse can generally act alone for the couple's community property, but it makes an exception and says the joinder of both spouses is required to acquire, dispose of or encumber an interest in real property. An encumbrance here means a lien, such as a mortgage. Property that belongs to one spouse alone, called separate property, is treated differently, and there are documents that change who appears on title, which is why the answer for your own situation comes from an attorney and a title company.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. I'm not an attorney, so this is what the Arizona statutes, a county court and a title company say, with the source named next to each fact.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your attorney and your title company answer for your own situation, and I checked each source on November 9, 2026.

It means that property a married couple acquires during the marriage belongs to both of them. Arizona's statute (A.R.S. 25-211) says all property acquired by either spouse during the marriage is community property, with two exceptions: property received by gift, devise or descent, and property acquired after a petition for divorce, legal separation or annulment is served, if the petition ends in a decree. The Pima County Superior Court's glossary of legal terms defines community property the same way: property other than a gift or inheritance to one party that spouses acquire during the marriage.

The Pima County glossary adds that each spouse has a one-half interest in community property, regardless of who has title to it. That is the reason the name on the deed doesn't settle who owns a home bought during a marriage.

The statute says joinder of both spouses is required to acquire, dispose of or encumber an interest in real property, and it lists a few narrow exceptions, such as unpatented mining claims. For a home, that covers a sale, and it also covers a mortgage or deed of trust. The statute does not use the word "sign." It says "joinder," which means both spouses have to take part in the transaction. An article on the asreb.com site describes it the same way, saying both spouses need to sign documents that transfer or encumber a couple's community home, and that if only one spouse signs, the intended transaction is ineffective.

That article is one writer's summary of the statute, not a second legal authority, so treat the statute as the main source. The same statute says that for community property, either spouse can generally act alone outside those exceptions, and that each spouse alone decides how to manage and dispose of their own separate property. Which kind of property a particular home is can be a legal question, and a title officer or an attorney is the one to answer it.

The same statute that covers selling also lists acquiring an interest in real property among the transactions that need both spouses' joinder, so the answer isn't a simple yes. What a title company does in practice depends on how the buyer takes title, and that is the next section. In one Arizona Court of Appeals case from 2020, Femiano v. Maust, a married couple bought a home where only the husband got the loan and took title as his sole and separate property, and the wife signed a disclaimer deed at closing. That is the court's description of what happened in that one case, and it shows the paperwork is part of how it works.

I'm not going to tell you whether that route fits your situation, because it depends on facts that an attorney and a title officer need to look at. If you're a married buyer thinking about buying without your spouse, those two are who to call before you make an offer. Your lender will have its own requirements too, and I'd ask the loan officer what they are.

Title companies publish short guides on this. Pioneer Title Agency's page on ways to hold title lists three forms that apply to married people. Community property is for married people, and the page says all property acquired during a marriage is presumed to be community property, except in listed cases such as gifts or inheritance. Community property with right of survivorship is co-ownership by a married couple when it's expressly stated in the vesting document. And sole and separate is for a married individual, where the page says the spouse must execute a disclaimer deed.

The disclaimer deed shows up in the Femiano opinion too, where the court says a signed disclaimer deed, absent fraud or mistake, rebuts the community presumption. The same page says it isn't trying to give legal or tax advice on how to take title and tells readers to contact an attorney or tax consultant. How you hold title is a title and legal question, and I can't answer it for you.

Not under the statute. The community property statute (A.R.S. 25-211) lists property received by gift, devise or descent as an exception, and the separate property statute (A.R.S. 25-213) says property a spouse owned before the marriage, or received during the marriage by gift, devise or descent, is that spouse's separate property. The Pima County Superior Court glossary defines separate property the same way, as property a spouse acquired before the marriage, or during it through a gift or an inheritance.

So a home one spouse inherited, or owned before the marriage, starts out as separate property. What happens to it later, for example when both spouses use it as their home or pay for things with shared money, is a legal question I'm leaving to an attorney, because I don't have two sources that agree on it. If you inherited a home and want to understand the selling side, here's how to sell an inherited home in Arizona.

Separate property is what the statute and the Pima County glossary describe above: what a spouse owned before the marriage, and what came by gift or inheritance. But an owner's say-so isn't how a title company treats a home. Pioneer Title's page says that when a married person acquires title as sole and separate property, the spouse must execute a disclaimer deed, and the asreb.com article says title companies may still apply the presumption that marital property could be community property and often ask the other spouse for a disclaimer deed. That second point is one article's description of title company practice, so ask your own title officer what they require.

If a home is held in a trust, that is its own set of questions, and I've written about selling a house held in a trust in Arizona.

Both, for different parts. An attorney can tell you whether property is community or separate and what your documents mean, and I wrote a separate post on whether you need a real estate attorney in Scottsdale. The title company or escrow officer is the one who reviews how title will be held and which documents they need at closing, and here's what escrow is in Arizona. Pioneer Title's page says outright that it can't give legal advice on how to take title.

What I can do is make sure your agreement, your lender and your title company are all working from the same names, and tell you what to ask. If you're married and one of you is buying or selling, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605, and I'll point you to the right questions before anything is signed.