Also known as: estates by the entirety · estate by entirety · tenancy by the entirety · tenancy by entirety
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A form of concurrent ownership available only to married couples in which each spouse owns the whole estate and neither may unilaterally alienate or encumber any interest. The estate features an indestructible right of survivorship so that title passes automatically to the surviving spouse upon the death of the other. Compulsory partition is unavailable and the interest of one spouse is generally immune from the separate creditors of the other.
Elise Everly and her husband held their home as tenants by the entirety. While divorce proceedings were pending Elise executed a will leaving her interest in the home to her daughter. Elise died before the divorce became final. Title passed by operation of law to the surviving spouse rather than under the will.
Edith Eberhardt conveyed land to her daughter Eileen Epstein and Eileen's husband Enzo Eastwood and the heirs of their bodies. The jurisdiction still recognizes estates tail and tenancies by the entirety. The deed created an estate tail held by the spouses as tenants by the entirety.
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Elliot Edmonds and his wife received a conveyance of land in a state that permits tenancies by the entirety. The deed ran to the couple and a designated class of their issue. The spouses therefore held the present estate as tenants by the entirety.
Echo Systems obtained a judgment against Enzo Eastwood alone. Enzo and his wife held their residence as tenants by the entirety. The creditor could not levy on Enzo's interest because the estate protects the property from the separate debts of one spouse.
The United States asserted a tax lien against one spouse's interest in land held by the entirety. The lien attached only to the taxpayer's survivorship interest and could not force an immediate sale of the entire property while both spouses remained alive.
Emma Erickson and her husband held investment property as tenants by the entirety. After the husband died the property passed directly to Emma outside probate. The estate could not be reached by the husband's creditors or devised by his will.
No. Each spouse owns the whole estate and neither may alienate or encumber any interest without the other's consent. Any attempted unilateral transfer is ineffective against the nonconsenting spouse.
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No. The property passes by operation of law to the surviving spouse and cannot be devised by will. Title vests in the survivor even if divorce proceedings are pending when the testator dies while still married.
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Generally no. The interest of one spouse is immune from the separate creditors of the other because each owns the whole and the estate is not severable.
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No. Compulsory partition is inconsistent with the indestructible right of survivorship that defines the estate.
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The tenancy by the entirety converts to a tenancy in common that is freely partitionable by either former spouse.
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…individual creditors. This issue is one of first impression in this jurisdiction. A brief review of the present state of the tenancy by the entirety might be helpful. Dean Phipps, writing in 1951,[^maj-1] pointed out that only nineteen states and the District of Columbia continued to recognize it as a valid and subsisting institution in…