Concurrent Estates

Question 1

there are three forms of concurrent ownership

Answer 1

joint tenancy
tenancy by the entirety
tenancy in common

Question 2

joint tenancy

Answer 2

two or more own with right of survivorship

Question 3

tenancy by the entirety

Answer 3

a protected marital interest between spouses with the right of survivorship

Question 4

tenancy in common

Answer 4

two or more own without the right of survivorship

Question 5

distinguishing characteristics of a joint tenancy

Answer 5

right of survivorship
alienability
not descendible or devisable

Question 6

how to create a joint tenancy

Answer 6

the four unities T-TIP
clear expression of right of survivorship

Question 7

four unities T-TIP

Answer 7

joint tenants must take their interests:
T: at the same time;
T: by the same title
I with identical, equal interests; and
P: with rights to possess the whole

all interests in a joint tenancy must be equal shares

Question 8

clear expression of right of survivorship

Answer 8

in addition to TTIP, to create a joint tenancy, the grantor must clearly express the right of survivorship

Question 9

severance of a joint tenancy

Answer 9

under certain circumstances, a joint tenancy will be severed (meaning terminated) and a tenancy in common results. Remember SAP for these circumstances: Sale and Partition.

Question 10

severance and sale

Answer 10

a joint tenant may sell or transfer her interest during lifetime. A voluntary conveyance by a joint tenant of their interest destroys the joint tenancy. The transferee takes as a tenant in common.

Question 11

3 types of partition:

Answer 11

by voluntary agreement

by judicial action called parition in kind

by judicial action called a forced sale

Question 12

transactions that will not result in severance

Answer 12

mortgages

effect of one joint tenant’s murdering another

Question 13

does testamentary dispotition have effect to sever?

Answer 13

No, a will is ineffective to work a severance because at death the testator’s interest vanishes.

Question 14

tenancy by the entirety

Answer 14

a tenancy by the entirety is a marital estate akin to a joint tenancy. it can be created only by married, who take as a fictious one person with right of survivorship

Question 15

is a tenancy by entirety a very protected form of co-ownership?

Answer 15

Yes. Cannot be touched.

Question 16

severance of a tenancy by entirety

Answer 16

only death, divorce, mutual agreement, or execution by a joint creditor of both the spouses can sever a tenancy by the entirety on divorce, the tenancy by the entirety becomes a tenancy in common.

Question 17

tenancy in common

Answer 17

a concurrent estate with no right of survivorship. Today multiple grantees are presumed to take as tenants in common, not as joint tenants

Question 18

remember these two features of a tenancy in common

Answer 18

each co-tenant owns an individual part, and each has a right to possess the whole

each interest is devisable, descensible, and alienable because no survivorship rights between tenants in common

Question 19

possession as co-tenants

Answer 19

each co-tenant has the right to possess all portions of the property but has no right to exlcusive possession of any part. If one-co-tenant wrongfully excludes another co-tenant from possession of the whole or any part they have committed ouster. Ouster is an actionable wrong.

Question 20

rents and profits from co-tenant in exclusive possession

Answer 20

in most states, a co-tenant in exclusive possession has the right to retain profits from their use of the property, they don’t need to share profits with other co-tenants absent ouster or an agreement to the contrary.

Question 21

rents and profits from third parties

Answer 21

a co-tenant who leases all or part of the premises to a third party must account to their co-tenants, providing them their fair share of the rental income

Question 22

adverse posssion of co-tenants

Answer 22

unless they have ousted the other co-tenant, the co-tenant in exclusive possession for the statutory adverse possession period cannot acquire title to the whole to the exclusion of the other-co-tenant.

Question 23

waste of co-tenants

Answer 23

cotenant must not waste. during the life of the co-tenancy, a co-tenant is permitted to bring an action for waste against another co-tenant

Question 24

there are three types of waste

Answer 24

voluntary (willful destruction)
permissive (neglect)
ameliorative (unilateral change that increases value)