Profit a prendre

Joint Tenants Joint tenants in common - at death only half goes to the survivor. Joint tenants with rights of survivorship - at death of one it all goes to the survivor. The state does not oversee the title transfer. Joint tenants with rights of survivorship is a form of property ownership in common law legal systems where more than one person has ownership of property. Joint Tenants own, jointly, the whole of the real property without any distinction between them regarding share of ownership. On the death of one of the tenants, the whole of the property passes to remaining tenant(s). Creditors' claims against the deceased tenant's estate may, under certain circumstances, be satisfied by the portion of ownership previously owned by the deceased, but now owned by the survivor or survivors. In other words, the deceased's liabilities remain attached to the property. This form of ownership is common between husband and wife, where parties want absolute ownership to pass to the survivor.

Estates may also be held jointly as joint tenants with rights of survivorship or as tenants in common. The difference in these two types of joint ownership of an estate in land is basically the inheritability of the estate. In joint tenancy (or in marriage this is sometimes called tenancy of the entirety) the surviving tenant (or tenants) become the sole owner (or owners) of the estate. Nothing passes to the heirs of the deceased tenant. In some jurisdictions the magic words "with right of survivorship" must be used or the tenancy will assumed to be tenants in common. Tenants in common will have a heritable portion of the estate in proportion to their ownership interest which is presumed to be equal amongst tenants unless otherwise stated in the transfer deed.

Tenants in Common is a way of sharing ownership of property among two or more people. Each tenant holds an undivided interest in the property, and each tenant may own a different size portion of the property

tenants in common ownership interest can be purchased, sold, gifted, bequeathed by will, or inherited, and is subject to property taxes, gift tax, estate and inheritance taxes in the same manner as any property held in fee simple (single) ownership.* Upon the death of a tenant in common, his or her interest in the property passes through inheritance as directed in the will or other estate planning documentation and does not divide among the other owners as there is no right of survivorship an important difference from joint tenancy ownership.