Joint tenants vs. tenants-in-common:
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Most home owners usually don't know the different between the 2 & when they ask if there is any difference, the short answer is "Yes".
When a property is held in joint tenancy, this means "the last man standing" owns the property. When one joint tenant dies, the entire property belongs to the remaining, surviving joint tenant(s). Whoever is the last joint tenant to die owns the property. Only that last person can use his or her Will to give the property to someone else.
For example, Alan, Bob & Charlie are joint tenants of a house. Alan passes away. Even though Alan would like to leave his share to his wife, he can't because he's a joint tenant. Bob n Charlie then own the property. Bob dies. Charlie now owns the whole property. Because Chris is the only name on title now, he can leave the property to his wife & children. There is nothing for Alan or Bob's families.
Tenants-in-common is a different story. In this arrangement, each person owns a half, or third, or some other portion that belongs only to them. They can leave their share to someone in their Will or sell it (never mind the logistical problems of trying to sell one third of a house).
To adapt our example above, let's say Alan, Bob & Charlie are tenants-in-common of the property and each owns and equal 1/3. When Alan passes away, he leaves his share to his wife, Deana. Now the owners are Bob, Deana and Charlie. Then Bob passes away and leaves his shares to his wife, Roberta. Now the owners are Deana, Roberta and Charlie. In this way, each of the individual owners retains control of his or her share. If there is no Will, there will be an administrator appointed by the court. Whoever is the beneficiary of the estate will become the new owner of the deceased's portion of the property. The portions of the property owned by the other tenants-in-common are not directly affected.
Between a husband and wife, a title is almost always held as joint tenants. This is so that when the first spouse dies, the other one will automatically own the family home without having to go through probate. Note that this is not always done in second marriages, depending on the situation.
Tina Mak Personal
Real Estate Corporation
Vancouver Radio Realtor
AM1320
www.TinaMak.com
www.TinaMak.ca
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