Concurrent Interests

Question 1

3 Types of Concurrent Interests

Answer 1

1. Tenants in Common
2. Joint Tenancy
3. Tenancy by Entirety

Question 2

Tenants in Common

Answer 2

Each co-owner has a separate, but undivided interest in the land. This is the default form of concurrent interests.

Question 3

Tenants in Common CAN:

Answer 3

• sell their shares to other cotenants or to outsiders.
• petition the court for partition of the co-owned parcel.
• contract among themselves to allocate the various benefits and burdens of ownership.

Question 4

Tenants in Common CANNOT:

Answer 4

have rights of survivorship

Question 5

Partition

Answer 5

If co-owners can’t agree on how to end their co-tenancy, tenants in common and joint tenants have the right to petition a court for partition – a judicially supervised mechanism for ending co-ownership.

Question 6

Partition in Kind

Answer 6

dividing land into pieces and giving each cotenant a piece that reflects their share.

• the preferred method of partition because it leaves cotenants holding the same estates as before and does not force a sale on unwilling cotenants.

Question 7

Partition in Sale

Answer 7

sell the whole property and divide proceeds to the owners

Question 8

Partition in Sale Requires:

Answer 8

(1) that the property cannot be conveniently partitioned in kind,

(2) that the interests of one or more of the parties will be promoted by the sale,

(3) that the interests of the other parties will not be prejudiced by the sale.

Question 9

Joint Tenancy

Answer 9

Joint tenants have equal, separate but undivided interests. The rights of obligation of joint tenants are the same as those of tenants in common. BUT there is right of survivorship.

Question 10

Concurrent Interests Default:

Answer 10

Tenants in common is our default unless the grantor specifically gives the land to them as “joint tenants” with unambiguous language.

Question 11

The Four Unities of Joint Tenancy

Answer 11

TTIP

(1) time – the joint tenants’ interests were all acquired at the same time;
(2) title – the interests were all acquired by the same document or by joint adverse possession;
(3) interest – the tenants’ shares must all be equal and undivided; and
(4) possession – all joint tenants must have equal rights to possess the whole (in the absence of an agreement to the contrary).

Question 12

Severance

Answer 12

any act that destroys one or more of the four unities required to maintain a joint tenancy.

Question 13

What happens to Joint Tenancy when severed?

Answer 13

The legal consequence of severance is that the joint tenancy is converted to a tenancy in common.