Co-Ownership

Question 1

Tenancy in Common

Answer 1

Most Common/Default
■ Separate but undivided interest
■ No survivorship
■ Interests are descendible and conveyed by deed or will

Question 2

Right of Survivorship

Answer 2

Upon death, a joint tenancy automatically goes to the surviving joint tenants; tenancy cannot be devised by will; not inheritable

Question 3

Joint Tenancy

Answer 3

Concurrent estate where joint tenancy have equal and

undivided interests with rights of survivorship

Question 4

Four Unities for Joint Tenancies

Answer 4

Time: at the same time
Title: by the same title, meaning, in the same instrument or deed
Identical: with identical, equal shares
Possession: with identical rights to possess the whole.
Losing a unity severs joint tenancy as to that interest (becomes tenancy in common)

Question 5

Partition

Answer 5

Equitable action to transform concurrent

ownership interests into separate ownership interests

Question 6

Partition In Kind

Answer 6

Most common(default): Physically divide the land

Question 7

Partition In Sale

Answer 7

(disfavored by courts unless it benefits each party)
Land is sold and profits distributed
usually b/c of house or building is on the land and does not lend itself to physical division

Question 8

Ouster

Answer 8

Tenant in possession denies possession to another

co-tenant; co-tenant in sole possession of the whole must pay rent to the tenant who has been ousted

Question 9

Terminating a Joint Tenancy

Answer 9

Breaking one of the unities 
1. By sale
OR
2. Judicial Partition
BUT NOT by will

Question 10

Time

Answer 10

tenants must take their interests at the same time

Question 11

Title

Answer 11

tenants must take their interests by the same title

Question 12

Identical

Answer 12

tenants must take their interest with identical equal shares

Question 13

Possession

Answer 13

tenants must take their interest with identical rights to possess the whole

Question 14

Title Theory Effect on Joint Tenancy

Answer 14

The execution of a mortgage severs the joint tenancy because giving the creditor a lien on ones share is the equivalent of transferring title to that creditor and thus breaking the 4 unities

(minority view)

Question 15

Lien Theory on Joint Tenancy

Answer 15

The execution of a mortgage will not sever the joint tenancy. The mortgagor retains title and the mortgagee takes only a lien on the property thus leaving all 4 unities intact; severance would only occur if the mortgage is foreclosed and the property is sold

(majority view)