NRS115.020. Declaration of homestead: Contents; recording; notice required of person who charges fee for recording declaration; rights not extinguished by certain conveyances; rights of trustee; penalty.

      1.  The selection must be made by either the husband or wife, or both of them, or the single person, declaring an intention in writing to claim the property as a homestead. The selection may be made on the form prescribed by the Real Estate Division of the Department of Business and Industry pursuant to NRS 115.025.

      2.  The declaration must state:

      (a) When made by a married person or persons, that they or either of them are married, or if not married, that he or she is a householder.

      (b) When made by a married person or persons, that they or either of them, as the case may be, are, at the time of making the declaration, residing with their family, or with the person or persons under their care and maintenance, on the premises, particularly describing the premises.

      (c) When made by any claimant under this section, that it is their or his or her intention to use and claim the property as a homestead.

      3.  The declaration must be signed by the person or persons making it and acknowledged and recorded as conveyances affecting real property are required to be acknowledged and recorded. If the property declared upon as a homestead is the separate property of either spouse, both must join in the execution and acknowledgment of the declaration.

      4.  If a person solicits another person to allow the soliciting person to file a declaration of homestead on behalf of the other person and charges or accepts a fee or other valuable consideration for recording the declaration of homestead for the other person, the soliciting person shall, before the declaration is recorded or before the fee or other valuable consideration is charged to or accepted from the other person, provide that person with a notice written in bold type which states that:

      (a) Except for the fee which may be charged by the county recorder for recording a declaration of homestead, a declaration of homestead may be recorded in the county in which the property is located without the payment of a fee; and

      (b) The person may record the declaration of homestead on his or her own behalf.

Ê The notice must clearly indicate the amount of the fee which may be charged by the county recorder for recording a declaration of homestead.

      5.  The rights acquired by declaring a homestead are not extinguished by the conveyance of the underlying property in trust for the benefit of the person or persons who declared it. A trustee may by similar declaration claim property, held by the trustee, as a homestead for the settlor or for one or more beneficiaries of the trust, or both, if the person or persons for whom the claim is made reside on or in the property.

      6.  A person who violates the provisions of subsection 4 is guilty of a misdemeanor.

      [Part 1:72:1865; A 1879, 140; 1949, 51; 1943 NCL § 3315]—(NRS A 1971, 575; 1983, 662; 1985, 13; 1995, 226; 2009, 45)