Also known as: tenancy by entireties · tenancy by the entirety · tenancies by the entireties · entirety tenancy
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A concurrent estate in real property held by a married couple as a single legal unit. The estate features an indestructible right of survivorship that passes title to the surviving spouse by operation of law upon the death of the other spouse. Neither spouse may unilaterally convey, encumber, or force partition of the property, and the estate is immune from the separate creditors of one spouse.
Theodore Tucker owned a house with his wife as tenants by the entirety. While divorce proceedings were pending, Theodore executed a will leaving the house to his nephew. Theodore died before the divorce was final. Title passed automatically to his wife by operation of law, and the will had no effect on the property.
Timothy Tang executed a deed conveying a warehouse to Tamara Tan and her husband Tanner Thompson, husband and wife, and their bodily heirs. The jurisdiction recognizes both conditional fees and tenancies by the entirety. The spouses received the present conditional fee estate as tenants by the entirety, with their issue holding the future interest.
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Talia Torres conveyed a laboratory to Tyrone Tran and his wife as husband and wife together with a designated class of their issue who enter a specific profession. The jurisdiction allows tenancies by the entirety. The couple held the estate as tenants by the entirety because the conveyance satisfied the requirements for that form of ownership.
TechVista Solutions obtained a judgment against one spouse for unpaid taxes. The couple held their residence as tenants by the entirety. The IRS could attach a lien to the debtor spouse's interest in the property even though title was held as tenants by the entirety.
Twin Rivers Bank obtained a judgment against one spouse for a personal debt. The couple owned their home as tenants by the entirety. The bank could not force a sale or reach the debtor spouse's interest because the estate protects the property from unilateral creditor claims.
Torchlight Media's founder executed a will attempting to leave a condo held as tenants by the entirety to a third party. The founder died while still married. The surviving spouse took full title by operation of law, rendering the will ineffective as to the condo.
A will cannot dispose of property held as tenants by the entirety. Title passes by operation of law to the surviving spouse when one spouse dies while the tenancy remains intact.
The conveyance must be made to two persons who are husband and wife and must also include the issue or a designated class of the issue of those two persons. Both conditions are required for the estate to be held in tenancy by the entirety.
Separate creditors of one spouse may not reach property held as tenants by the entirety. The estate protects the property from unilateral claims because neither spouse holds a severable individual interest.
Divorce terminates the tenancy by the entirety and converts the interests into a tenancy in common. The right of survivorship no longer applies after the marital unity ends.
…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…