What is a Joint Tenancy?
A joint tenancy can be created between two or more co-tenants. What makes a joint tenancy unique is the right of survivorship. This simply means that the moment one joint tenant dies, all of the property immediately goes to the other joint tenant.
Example: A friend and I acquire a piece of property as joint tenants. We each hold an undivided interest in the property, but as soon as one of us passes away the other one will be the sole owner of all of the property.
Watch out for on MBE:
Wills do not sever a joint tenancy. If one joint tenant devises his interest in the joint tenancy in a will, this changes nothing with respect to the joint tenancy. When one joint tenant dies, the entire interest will still go to the other joint tenant.
Example 1: Harry Carray and Dr. Kent Wahler acquire a ten acre lot as joint tenants. Harry Carray executes a will leaving his interest in the joint tenancy to his grandson, and one year later Harry Carray passes away. Who now owns the ten acre lot? Dr. Kent Wahler is the sole owner of the lot. Harry Carray leaving his interest in the joint tenancy to his grandson did not end the joint tenancy, and as soon as he died Dr. Kent Wahler became the sole owner of the lot. The grandson has no interest in the lot because Harry Carray no longer had any interest in the lot once he predeceased Dr. Kent Wahler.
Example 2: Harry Carray and Dr. Kent Wahler acquire a ten acre lot as joint tenants, and Harry Carray executes a will leaving his interest in the joint tenancy to his grandson. One year later Dr. Kent Wahler passes away, and then one year after that Harry Caray passes away. Who now owns the ten acre lot? Harry Caray’s grandson is the sole owner of the lot.
Analysis of Example 2: When Harry Caray executed a will leaving his interest in the joint tenancy to his grandson, the joint tenancy remained intact (just as in the above example). This did not sever the joint tenancy. Once Dr. Kent Wahler passed away Harry Caray became the sole owner of the lot (as the surviving joint tenant). When Harry Caray passed away a year later his grandson inherited his interest in the lot (from the will), which was the entire property.
Remember:
If the facts tell you that one joint tenant executed a will leaving his interest in the joint tenancy, remember that wills do not sever a joint tenancy. All of the property will still go to the surviving joint tenant.