Is Joint Tenancy Right For You?

Joint tenancy allows two or more individuals to hold title in an equal share of the property with the right of survivorship. Each owner may sell, mortgage, or devise their share of the property.

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There are a few distinctions between joint tenancy and the other methods of holding title. Let's break down the explanation a little further.

"two or more individuals" means that that the owners do not have to be married, and there can be more than two owners.

"an equal share of the property" means that all of the owners must hold an equal share of the property. If there are two owners, each own 50%. If there are three owners, each own 33.33%.

"with the right of survivorship" means upon death of one of the tenants, their interest is transferred outside probate to the remaining tenants. If there were three owners and one passes away, the other two owners will now each own exactly 50% of the property.

"each owner may sell, mortgage, or devise their share of the property." Each tenant can borrow on or sell their share of the property to a third party, but you must have the consent of all the owners to sell or mortgage the entire property.

Only you can decide if this is the right method for you. There are obvious benefits, but also drawbacks. For instance it is nice that if one of the owners pass away the remaining owners do not have to go to court to work out the new ownership. On the other hand, how would you feel if your room mate or (ex-)spouse sold their share of the property to someone else without your consent?

I know joint tenancy is extremely interesting, but if you can pull yourself away you might want to return to our Arizona title section, or back to our home page to continue researching Peoria Arizona real estate.