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Pass California

Ownership and Land Use, 15% of the examination

Joint tenancy

Co-ownership in equal shares with right of survivorship, requiring the four unities of time, title, interest and possession.

Right of survivorship operates outside the will entirely, so a joint tenant's interest is extinguished at death rather than passing to their estate. Breaking any one unity, for example by one tenant conveying their share, severs the joint tenancy as to that share and converts it to a tenancy in common.

What this is confused with

The exam rarely asks for a definition. It describes a situation and offers two terms that both sound plausible.

Tenancy in common

No survivorship, shares may be unequal, and the interest passes by will or intestate succession.

Community property with right of survivorship

Available to spouses, and the survivor gets a full step-up in basis on the whole property.

See also

Tenancy in commonCo-ownership with no right of survivorship, permitting unequal shares.Community propertyProperty acquired by a married person during marriage other than by gift, bequest, devise or descent.

See it in a question

One question from Ownership and Land Use, so the term lands in the context the exam uses it in.

Ownership and Land Use ยท 15%Types of Ownership

Two unmarried people buy a house as joint tenants. One dies leaving a will giving her entire estate to her brother. What happens to her interest?

Written to DRE's published topic list. Not a real examination question, since reproducing those is a misdemeanour under B&P Code section 123.

Where this is tested

Property Ownership and Land Use Controls and RegulationsWhat can be owned, how it is held, what limits it, and who does the limiting. Water rights and environmental hazards carry more weight in California than almost anywhere else.15%Practise Ownership and Land Use30 questions on this area, every option explained.Practice

Other terms in this area