Question: Last week you made reference to property being owned in joint names and passing automatically to the survivor if one of the joint owners dies. Is this always the case?
Answer: No, there are essentially two ways in which property can be held as co-owners. Firstly there is what is known as a joint tenancy and secondly a tenancy in common – by the way the term tenancy is slightly misleading as it has nothing to do with the property being let.
When property is owned by two or more people as joint tenants, then the property automatically passes by survivorship to the surviving owners. It is not possible to affect the ownership by making alternative directions in a Will.
When property is owned as tenants in common then each owner has a separate and distinct share in the property which does not automatically pass to the surviving owners. It would be appropriate in this case to ensure there is proper provision made for the share to pass by Will.
Joint tenancy can be converted into a tenancy in common. This is called severing the joint tenancy. It is a simple enough process and can also occur automatically in certain circumstances. Typically property is held as tenants in common when there is a business or a trade being carried on whereas family property, particularly property owned by spouses is held as a joint tenancy.
The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. Specific legal advice should be sought on any particular matter.
