JOINT TENANCY
A type of ownership of real or PERSONAL PROPERTY by two or more persons in which each owns an undivided interest in the whole.
In estate law, joint tenancy is a special form
of ownership by two or more persons of the
same property. The individuals, who are called
joint tenants, share equal ownership of the
property and have the equal, undivided right to
keep or dispose of the property. Joint tenancy
creates a RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP. This right
provides that if any one of the joint tenants dies,
the remainder of the property is transferred to
the survivors. Descended from common-law
tradition, joint tenancy is closely related to two
other forms of concurrent property ownership:
TENANCY IN COMMON, a less restrictive form of
ownership that sometimes results when joint
tenancies cease to exist, and TENANCY BY THE
ENTIRETY, a special form of joint tenancy for
married couples.
Joint tenants usually share ownership of
land, but the property may instead be money or
other items. Four main features mark this type
of ownership: (1) The joint tenants own an
undivided interest in the property as a whole;
each share is equal, and no one joint tenant can
ever have a larger share. (2) The estates of the
joint tenants are vested (meaning fixed and
unalterable by any condition) for exactly the
same period of time—in this case, the tenants’
lifetime. (3) The joint tenants hold their prop-
erty under the same title. (4) The joint tenants
all enjoy the same rights until one of them dies.
Under the right of survivorship, the death of one
joint tenant automatically transfers the remain-
der of the property in equal parts to the sur-
vivors. When only one joint tenant is left alive,
he or she receives the entire estate.
If the joint tenants mutually agree to sell the
property, they must equally divide the proceeds
of the sale. Because disagreement over the dis-
position of property is common, courts some-
times intervene to divide the property equally
among the owners. If one joint tenant decides to
convey her or his interest in the property to a
new owner, the joint tenancy is broken and the
new owner has a tenancy in common.
Tenancy in common is a form of concurrent
ownership that can be created by deed, will, or
operation of law. Several features distinguish it
from joint tenancy: A tenant in common may
have a larger share of property than the other
tenants. The tenant is also free to dispose of his
or her share without the restrictive conditions
placed on a joint tenancy. Unlike joint tenancy,
tenancy in common has no right of survivor-
ship. Thus, no other tenant in common is enti-
tled to receive a share of the property upon a
tenant in common’s death; instead, the property
goes to the deceased’s heirs.
Tenancy by the entirety is a form of joint
tenancy that is available only to a HUSBAND AND
WIFE. It can be created only by will or by deed.
As a form of joint tenancy that also creates a
right of survivorship, it allows the property to
pass automatically to the surviving spouse when
a spouse dies. In addition, tenancy by the
entirety protects a spouse’s interest in the prop-
erty from the other spouse’s creditors. It differs
from joint tenancy in one major respect: neither
party can voluntarily dispose of her or his inter-
est in the property. In the event of DIVORCE, the
tenancy by the entirety becomes a tenancy in
common, and the right of survivorship is lost.
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