Facts
- Dean W. Crowther and his wife, Nellie Crowther, owned a parcel of Utah real property as joint tenants.
- Nellie wanted her son, Bryan D. Mower, to receive at least a one-half interest in the property.
- Nellie executed a quitclaim deed conveying her joint-tenancy interest in the parcel to Mower, and the deed was transmitted to Mower with instructions about recording.
- Mower was told to record the deed immediately if Nellie died before Dean.
- Nellie died on August 9, 1991.
- Mower recorded the quitclaim deed on August 15, 1991, several days after Nellie’s death.
- Dean filed a quiet title action, asserting that because Mower did not record the deed before Nellie died, the conveyance was ineffective and Dean took Nellie’s interest by the right of survivorship.
- The trial court granted summary judgment for Dean, treated the deed as ineffective, and denied Mower’s motion for reconsideration.
- Mower appealed.
Issues
- Whether Nellie Crowther’s execution and delivery of a quitclaim deed conveying her joint-tenancy interest to Mower severed the joint tenancy (and ended survivorship) before her death.
- Whether Mower’s failure to record the deed before Nellie’s death made the conveyance invalid as between the parties or preserved Dean’s survivorship interest.
- Whether the evidence created a genuine dispute about Nellie’s present intent to convey (including intent to deliver) despite instructions that the deed be recorded later.
- Whether Dean could defeat the unrecorded (at the time) deed under Utah’s recording statutes as a protected subsequent purchaser for value.
Decision
- The Utah Court of Appeals reversed the summary judgment entered for Dean and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that a bona fide conveyance by one joint tenant to a third party severs a joint tenancy and converts the ownership into a tenancy in common, without the other joint tenant’s consent.
- The court held that recordation is not a condition of a deed’s validity as between the parties (and others with notice), and recording after the grantor’s death did not invalidate Nellie’s earlier conveyance to Mower.
- The court concluded the documents and circumstances supported Nellie’s present intent to convey and deliver her interest to Mower, so the joint tenancy was severed during her lifetime.
- Because Nellie had transferred her interest before she died, she had no interest left at death for Dean to take by survivorship.
- The court further indicated that Dean was not protected by the recording act provisions applicable to good-faith purchasers for value who first record.
Legal Principles
- A joint tenant may unilaterally terminate a joint tenancy by making a bona fide conveyance of the joint tenant’s interest to a third party; the conveyance severs the joint tenancy and creates a tenancy in common.
- The right of survivorship in a joint tenancy is an expectancy that ends upon severance; it does not remain after a valid inter vivos transfer by a joint tenant.
- A deed is effective upon valid execution and delivery with present intent to transfer; delivery and intent may be shown by the deed itself and related writings and circumstances.
- Under Utah law, recordation is not required for a deed to be valid as between the parties and persons with notice; delayed recordation does not by itself defeat the conveyance.
- Utah’s recording statutes principally protect subsequent purchasers for value who take in good faith and record first; a co-tenant asserting survivorship after an earlier conveyance by another joint tenant does not qualify as such a purchaser.
Conclusion
In Crowther v. Mower, the Utah Court of Appeals held that Nellie Crowther’s delivered quitclaim deed conveying her joint-tenancy interest to her son severed the joint tenancy during her lifetime, so Dean Crowther could not take Nellie’s former interest by survivorship when she later died; the deed’s post-death recordation did not defeat its validity as between the parties, and the court therefore reversed the quiet-title summary judgment for Dean and remanded.