Nevada: Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant Title-Clearance Requirements

Requirements one by one

Three covered ownership structures

Nev. Rev. Stat. § 111.365 covers real property held by two or more people as
joint tenants, property held by spouses as community property with right of
survivorship, and a life estate under which ownership passes to the remainder
owner at the life tenant's death.

The statute does not require the affiant to be a survivor, remainder owner, or
personal representative. The signer must be a person who knows the facts
required by the applicable subsection. The affidavit is subscribed and sworn;
the section states no witness count or authority-document attachment.

Affidavit facts and certified death record

For joint tenancy or survivorship community property, the affidavit states the
affiant's family relationship to each decedent, if any. For a life estate, it
states the affiant's relationship to each deceased life tenant. Both versions
describe the instrument or conveyance that created the relevant ownership,
describe the affected property, and give each decedent's death date and place.

A certified copy of the death certificate accompanies the affidavit for every
deceased joint tenant or spouse, or for the deceased life tenant. That is an
express statewide requirement, not merely a county form preference.

Statewide recording fields and office

Section 111.312 adds fields to an affidavit of death. If there is no grantee,
the document gives the mailing address of the person requesting recording. The
first page must show the assessor's parcel number at the top left if the county
assessor assigned one; an APN is not a substitute for the property description.

If the document uses a metes-and-bounds legal description, it includes the name
and mailing address of the person who prepared that description. When the same
description was recorded before, the affidavit may instead include the
information needed to identify and locate that earlier recording.

Recording occurs in every county where part of the property is situated. NRS
111.365 states no number of days or months after death by which the affidavit
must be recorded.

Disputable presumption and agency transmission

Recording the complete joint-tenancy or community-property package creates a
disputable presumption that each deceased owner's title or interest terminated
and vested solely in the surviving owner or jointly in the surviving owners.
For a life estate, it creates the corresponding presumption that the life
tenant's interest terminated and vested solely in the remainder owner.

“Disputable” matters: the statute does not call the filing conclusive title
proof. It supplies a rebuttable presumption based on the recorded affidavit and
certified death evidence.

The county recorder has a separate monthly duty. All information in affidavits
received under either route during the preceding month must be sent to the
Department of Human Services in its approved format and medium. The statute
does not require the affiant to make that agency transmission.

What trips people up

The affiant need not own the property. Knowledge of the required facts is
the statutory qualification. A template that forces the signer to be the
survivor is narrower than NRS 111.365.

A family relationship may be “none.” The joint-tenancy and survivorship-
community-property route asks for the family relationship, if any. It does not
limit the procedure to spouses or relatives.

The APN does not replace the property description. Section 111.312 expressly
says the parcel number is not a complete legal description.

Common questions

Can this affidavit terminate a life estate of record? Yes. The second route
in NRS 111.365 covers a deceased life tenant and vesting in the remainder owner.

Must the survivor personally swear to the affidavit? No. Any person with
knowledge of the required facts may act, although the affiant's relationship to
the decedent must be stated.

Is a photocopy of the death certificate enough? The statute requires a
certified copy to accompany the affidavit.

Does the affidavit conclusively establish title? No. Its express effect is a
disputable presumption, which may be rebutted.

Statutes and sources

• Nev. Rev. Stat. § 111.365 — covered estates, knowledgeable affiant, sworn
  execution, certified death certificate, required facts, county filing,
  disputable vesting presumption, and monthly agency transmission.
  https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-111.html#NRS111Sec365 (accessed
  2026-08-03).
• Nev. Rev. Stat. § 111.312 — requester mailing address, first-page APN, and
  metes-and-bounds preparer or prior-recording identification requirements.
  https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-111.html#NRS111Sec312 (accessed
  2026-08-03).