Joint tenancy
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Joint tenancy is a form of legal co-ownership of property which typically includes a right to survivorship. With a right to survivorship, at the death of one co-owner the surviving co-owner becomes sole owner of the property. It is sometimes referred to as "joint tenancy with right of survivorship" or abbreviated JTWROS.
A joint tenancy is created where all the co-owners share "four unities":
- Time - the property must be acquired by all the co-owners at the same time.
- Title - all co-owners must acquire the property from the same document.
- Interest - each and every co-owner must own the same share of the property, and with the same restrictions or conditions, as the others.
- Possession - each and every co-owner must have the same right to possess and use the entire property as the others.
If at any time one co-owner sells his/her interest apart from the other, the joint tenancy ends and converts to a tenancy in common.
A tenancy by the entirety is a special form of joint tenancy between a husband and wife.