What is the difference between joint tenants and enants in common?
Black’s Law Dictionary includes language in its definition of Joint Tenancy as follows: “Type of ownership of real or personal property by two or more persons in which each owns an undivided interest in the whole and attached to which is the right of survivorship.” This means that because the whole of the property is already owned by all of the joint tenants, that title does not need to pass through probate in the event of the death of one of the joint tenants. Tenancy in common is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as “A form of ownership whereby each tenant (i.e. owner) holds an undivided interest in the property. Unlike a joint tenancy … the interest of a tenant in common does not terminate upon his or her prior death (i.e. there is no right of survivorship.)” Upon the death of a tenant in common, the interest of the owner passes to the estate or the heirs of the owner and the probate process is required to determine the ownership after death.
