Also known as: incidents of survivorship · right of survivorship
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An automatic transfer of a co-owner's interest in property to the surviving co-owner or co-owners upon death. The transfer occurs by operation of law in joint tenancies with right of survivorship, tenancies by the entirety, and similar arrangements, bypassing probate and any will.
Israel and Iris own their home as tenants by the entirety. Israel executes a will leaving his interest to his brother Ian while divorce proceedings remain pending. Israel dies before any divorce decree is entered. Title passes automatically to Iris by operation of law.
Imran and Ingrid hold investment property as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Upon Imran's death, the value of his fractional interest is added to the augmented estate for purposes of calculating the surviving spouse's elective share.
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Ismael and Iris own a vacation cabin as joint tenants with right of survivorship. After their divorce becomes final, Ismael dies. The former spouses' interests converted to a tenancy in common upon divorce, so Ismael's half passes through his estate rather than to Iris.
Ian opens a bank account titled in the names of himself and his sister Ingrid. Upon Ian's death the balance passes to Ingrid as a surviving party even though the account documents never expressly mention a right of survivorship.
No. Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy by the entirety passes by operation of law to the survivor and cannot be disposed of by will.
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Divorce severs the joint tenancy with right of survivorship and converts the interests into a tenancy in common unless a court order or governing instrument expressly preserves the survivorship feature.
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If survival by 120 hours cannot be established by clear and convincing evidence, each co-owner is treated as having predeceased the other and the property is divided equally between their estates.
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Yes. A multiple-party account is payable on request to one or more parties, and sums on deposit belong to the surviving parties upon the death of another party regardless of whether the right of survivorship is expressly mentioned.
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