Also known as: survivorship right · right of survivorship · rights of survivorship · JTWROS
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The automatic passage of a deceased co-owner's interest in jointly held property to the surviving co-owner or co-owners by operation of law. The interest passes outside probate and cannot be devised by will. The right attaches to joint tenancies, tenancies by the entirety, and certain multiple-party accounts.
Samuel Soto and Serena Soto held their home as tenants by the entirety. While divorce proceedings were pending Samuel executed a will leaving his interest to a third party. Samuel died before the divorce was final. Title passed automatically to Serena by operation of law.
Simon Stern died owning a cabin in joint tenancy with right of survivorship with his surviving spouse Sophia Singh. The cabin's value was included in Simon's augmented estate for Sophia's elective-share calculation under the fractional-interest rule.
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Stephen Shaw and Sophia Singh held investment property as joint tenants with right of survivorship. After their divorce the interests automatically converted into equal tenancies in common. Neither former spouse could claim the other's share by survivorship.
Santiago Sanchez opened a bank account payable on request to himself and his sister Serena Soto. The account qualified as a multiple-party account regardless of whether the signature card mentioned a right of survivorship.
Samuel Soto and Serena Soto owned their residence as tenants by the entirety. A creditor obtained a judgment against Samuel alone. The creditor could not force a sale of the home because Serena's survivorship right remained intact.
Sophia Singh held land in joint tenancy with right of survivorship with her husband. She executed and recorded a deed conveying her interest to herself as a tenant in common. The joint tenancy ended and her interest became part of her probate estate.
No. If the tenancy by the entirety remains intact at death, title passes to the surviving spouse by operation of law even though divorce proceedings are pending.
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Divorce severs the former spouses' interests in joint tenancy with right of survivorship and converts them into equal tenancies in common.
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Yes. An account payable on request to two or more parties qualifies as a multiple-party account whether or not a right of survivorship is mentioned.
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No. The lease ends with the leasing joint tenant's death because the right of survivorship extinguishes that interest and any encumbrance on it.
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…Such are the dictates of common equality. Thus the judgment creditors of either spouse may levy and execute on their separate rights of survivorship. One may speculate whether the courts which first chose the path to equality now followed by the majority might have felt an unexpressed aversion to entrusting a wife with as much control…