Immediate Property Interest

In Arizona, each spouse’s property interests are immediate, present, and vested. The immediate part of this equation is that each spouse’s right to possess the property occurs concurrently with the community’s acquisition of the property. Additionally, each party’s interest in the separate property awarded to them in a divorce is also immediate. In Dole v. Blair, the Court of Appeals struck down a trial court’s order that required Husband and Wife maintain the home Wife lived in until the youngest child turned 18 because that order interfered with the spouse’s right to immediately possess his property. In other words, Court cannot make spouses wait to receive their property. There are couple exceptions to be aware of: (1) The Court can permit a reasonable amount of time for the parties to sell an asset, such as a home, after the divorce, and (2) the parties can agree to jointly hold property beyond the divorce.