A beneficiary deed in Arizona:
Question & Answer
Review the question and all answer choices
Transfers property immediately
Answer A is incorrect because a beneficiary deed deliberately does NOT transfer property immediately upon execution; the grantor retains complete ownership, including the right to revoke the deed, sell the property, or encumber it with a mortgage right up until the moment of death.
Transfers property at death without probate
Is a type of mortgage
Answer C is incorrect because a beneficiary deed is an estate-planning conveyance instrument, not a security instrument; a mortgage creates a lien against property as collateral for a debt, which is an entirely different legal concept with no connection to death-triggered transfers.
Requires court approval
Answer D is incorrect because one of the primary advantages of a beneficiary deed is that it requires no court involvement whatsoever — it is recorded with the county recorder during the grantor's lifetime and takes effect automatically at death, completely circumventing the court-supervised probate process.
Why is this correct?
Answer B is correct because Arizona's beneficiary deed statute (A.R.S. § 33-405) explicitly provides that the deed conveys no present interest to the beneficiary during the grantor's lifetime and that the transfer of title occurs automatically at the grantor's death, bypassing the probate process entirely. The grantor retains full rights to sell, mortgage, or revoke the deed at any time before death, which means the beneficiary has only an expectancy interest, not a vested property right, until the moment of the grantor's passing. This combination — death-triggered transfer plus probate avoidance — is the defining legal characteristic of the instrument.
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