Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership where the entirety of the property is simultaneously owned by all the tenants. An important consequence of joint tenancy is that if one joint tenant passes away, the deceased tenant’s ownership interest is extinguished. This means that the deceased owner cannot will away his/her ownership interest in the property.
Example: Three sisters owned a lake house as part of a joint tenancy agreement. When the oldest sister died, the other two sisters found out that her share of the lake house could not get passed down to her daughter in her will. The remaining two sisters were shocked when they realized the consequences of this kind of an agreement.
Categorized in: Legal Procedure
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