Sharing the Deed: What Concurrent Ownership Means

When more than one person holds a deed to the same property at the same time, they hold concurrent ownership. There’s another legal term for what they have. That’s “unity” in the ownership.

In law school, students learn how people may own the same property at the same time in various ways:

Unity of title. Co-owners got the property through the same deed.

Unity of possession. Ownership of the property is shared by all of the owners.

Unity of interest. Multiple owners hold equal interests in the property.

Unity of time. The co-owners acquired the deed at the same time.

Are you ready for the quiz? Great!

How Legal Unity Exists in a Co-Ownership

Now, let’s look at how all this applies to real deed holders. Here’s how their concurrent ownership might be vested:

Tenancy by the Entirety

There is one way of vesting a deed that encompasses all of the four basic unities named above, plus what’s called the unity of marriage or unity of the person. And that is the tenancy by the entirety. This means a couple owns the home as though the two were a single owner. It can be formed when a couple inherits a home together (during the time of their marriage) or acquires it at the same moment through a deed transfer.

An engaged couple cannot receive a deed as tenants by the entirety. And divorce breaks the tenancy by the entirety. But as long as the tenancy stays intact, each marriage partner owns the whole home. When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse continues to be the legal owner of the entire property.

About half of the U.S. states plus D.C. allow marital property to be vested as a tenancy by the entirety. Couples use it to shield the property value of each spouse from the other’s creditors or court judgments. What’s that about? Well, couples are usually joint owners with rights of survivorship. By default, the property value of each of the joint owners can be reached for each other’s debts or court judgments. A tenancy by the entirety, though, creates a shield for the home. Only if both spouses took on the debt or judgment together could the creditor reach their home’s value.

Caveat: In states that recognize tenancies by the entirety, a creditor’s rights vary, so check state law!

Tenancy in Common

This vesting may be created through a will, a deed transfer, or a divorce by a couple who owned as tenants by the entirety. It has just one of the unities: the unity of possession.

Tenants in common are simply co-owners. The deed may say they own the property in unequal shares—in percentages that add up to 100%. After a tenant in common dies, the share passes to the person’s heir—not the surviving co-owner. For example, the adult child of the co-owner who has passed could be in line to inherit the percentage held by the deceased and become a new co-owner in the tenancy in common.  

Co-owners are free to sell or finance their own specific share. And they can petition a court to divide the property by a court action called partition.  

Co-owners in tenancies in common or joint tenancies are eligible to ask a court to divide their property into parts that become separately owned. A partition by sale means the property’s value can be distributed to the former co-owners. 

Joint Tenancy

When a deed or will transfers a home, say, to John and Joan as joint tenants with a right of survivorship, you’re seeing a vesting that has the four unities. Unlike a tenancy by the entirety, the joint tenancy is for two or more co-owners, married or not.

For all joint tenants, ownership shares are equal. Ownership of the home will be transferred automatically to the survivors upon any joint owner’s death, until all the property is vested in the last remaining survivor. If two or more people inherit property from a last surviving joint tenant, they do so as tenants in common instead of as joint tenants.

Joint tenancies keep homes out of probate. This saves a good deal of money for the surviving owner. It also keeps the deed transfer out of the public court process. Joint tenancy, therefore, is very popular among couples who receive their deed together. And it is often chosen by co-owners who are not married, but do want their share to automatically pass to each other upon either one’s death.

Now you know the three classic types of concurrent ownership: tenancy by the entirety, tenancy in common, and joint tenancy with survivorship rights. Be sure to learn what types of vesting for deeds are available in your own state, as there can be variances. Also, use careful language on your deed so you’re sure it creates the kind of vesting you and your co-owner(s) are aiming for.

Deed Says Joint Tenancy. Can I Sever the Right of Survivorship Using a Deed to Myself?

We know tenants in common may freely sell or finance their own shares. But are joint tenants stuck? Can they deed themselves their shares and become tenants in common?

You might have heard about community property states, where one spouse may sign a deed into their own sole name to end the community property vesting. Then the pair would be tenants in common. They could sell or finance their share as they wish.

OK, so what about the joint owners? It all depends on state law.

Consider Pennsylvania, where the answer is no. A Pennsylvania court faced this issue. The judge decided that if one joint tenant makes a move to convert a joint tenancy to a tenancy in common, they can’t. At least not without destroying one of their unities! This is why the unities matter.

The Pennsylvania case indicates that a joint deed holder has to go through the traditional motions of first conveying the interest to another person, who would then convey it back. A Pennsylvanian in a joint vesting, from a legal perspective, doesn’t change a thing by “self-conveyance.” This is because a deed to oneself doesn’t change any of the four unities underneath a joint tenancy.

Important note to our readers: Considering questions about vesting (or re-vesting) your concurrent ownership? Ready to write a will or begin estate planning? Speak with a wills, estates, and trusts attorney or real estate law professional licensed in your state. Each state has its own body of real estate law. So, state laws on concurrent ownership vary.