§ 2-9-101 — Petition to establish rights upon death of owner of life estate or joint interest in realty; notice; decree; recording and effect thereof

If any person dies seized of a life estate which terminates by
reason of his death, or of an estate by the entireties, or of an
estate by joint tenancy or joint estate with another, any person
interested in the property or in the title thereto may file in
the district court of the county in which the property is
situated a verified petition setting forth such facts. After two
(2) weeks notice by publication in a newspaper of general
circulation in the county, or otherwise as the court may order,
the court shall hear the petition and the evidence offered in
support thereof. If upon hearing it appears to the court that
such life estate, estate by entireties, estate by joint tenancy
or joint estate was created and vested, and that the life estate
of the deceased person terminated by reason of death, or that
the estate by entireties remains vested solely in the surviving
spouse by reason of death, or that the estate by joint tenancy
or joint estate remains vested solely in the surviving joint
tenant or joint tenants, the court shall so decree. A certified
copy of the decree shall be recorded in the office of the county
clerk and thereafter the decree and the record thereof together
with the record of the instrument or instruments purporting to
create the life estate, estate by entireties, estate by joint
tenancy or joint estate, shall be presumptive evidence of the
creation of such estate, the termination thereof and the
survivorship of the estate by entireties, estates by joint
tenancy or joint estate.