1. Sole Ownership or Vesting or Closing Title in your Individual Name. 

• When you vest or close in your individual name, you own the property in the name of the individual, unmarried person, or married person but as sole and separate property.  
• Benefit of vesting in your individual name is that it is just your own property.  So, you maintain complete control over the property. 

2. Community Property with Rights of Survivorship (CPWRS)

• When you vest or close in your name and your spouse’s name on the deed, for married couples, the deed can vest or be titled as community property with rights of survivorship.  This means that the property continues to go to the surviving partner upon the death of the first partner.  In other words, when one spouse dies the other spouse avoids probate and automatically is the new owner.  However, the surviving spouse cannot sell the property because the deceased spouse is on the deed to the property so they must file an affidavit terminating the community property with rights of survivorship, so the deed is then transferred into the surviving spouse’s individual name.   
• The downside to community property with rights of survivorship is that only married couples can title property in this manner. 
• The benefit of community property with rights of survivorship are that upon the death of the first spouse the spouse that continues to live can get the house appraised and then step up the basis for tax purposes to the date of death or the value of the property at the time the first spouse passed.  So, if the surviving spouse ever decides to sell the property, they will use the date of death value as the basis and not the original purchase price potentially saving them lots of federal income taxes. 

3. Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS)

• This is when two or more people are on the deed to a house jointly, even if they are unrelated.  In Nevada, joint tenancy is presumed with rights of survivorship which means that if a joint tenant passes away then the remaining individual on the deed now becomes the sole owner.  In other words, by operation of death, the deceased person’s portion of the property does not go to their heirs or whom they designed in their Will or Trust when they pass away, but rather the entire part or the portion of the first person’s interest in the property will then go to the surviving individual on the deed.  
• Once again, like CPWROS the surviving person receives the entire portion or one hundred percent of the property regardless of what is designated in their estate planning documents. 

4. Tenants in Common.

• This involves two or more people that own equal or unequal interests in a property.  
• If one owner passes away, then their share must go through probate court if the title was vested or owned in their individual name. 
• This interest is extremely beneficial when partners own a portion of a building or property.  It allows a portion of the building or property to be owned by several partners. 

5. Title Vested or Held in the Name of a Trust. 

• This is by far the best of both worlds because first it avoids probate.  In other words, upon the death of an individual, a successor trustee can step in and take control of the property and sell it or transfer it without going through probate court.  

Seeking the legal counsel of the David Bindrup Law Firm on how to purchase or vest or close on the deed to your house is extremely important for taxation, avoiding probate, and accomplishing a client’s goals and desires.