Also known as: cotenancy · co tenancy · cotenant · co-tenant · cot tenancy · joint tenancy
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Concurrent ownership of property by two or more persons holding undivided interests that may take the form of joint tenancy, tenancy in common, or tenancy by the entirety. The form determines whether a right of survivorship exists and whether one owner may unilaterally sever the relationship.
Cassandra Cooper and her husband conveyed a fee simple conditional estate in their vacation home to themselves and their children who enter medicine. State law permits such estates to be held in joint tenancy only when the grantees are spouses and their issue. The conveyance satisfied the statutory conditions, so the family holds the property in joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
Claire Campbell and her husband held their residence as tenants by the entirety. While divorce proceedings were pending, Claire executed a will devising her interest to her sister. Claire died before the divorce was final. Title passed automatically to her surviving husband by operation of law, and the will had no effect on the property.
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Clifford Cox died owning a vacation cabin in joint tenancy with his surviving spouse. The probate court included the spouse's fractional interest in the cabin when calculating the augmented estate for elective-share purposes. The fractional share was determined by dividing one by the total number of joint tenants who survived the decedent.
Christopher Collins and Charlotte Chung each owned an undivided half interest in commercial fishing equipment. They shared the gross receipts from chartering the equipment but maintained separate businesses and did not agree to share net profits or losses. The shared ownership alone did not create a partnership between them.
Carlos Castillo and Crestview Holdings acquired an office building as tenants in common. Their recorded agreement barred either party from seeking partition for ten years to allow stable operation of a shared logistics facility. Five years later one owner sought partition, but the court enforced the time-limited restraint.
Coastal Shipping conveyed a fee tail estate in warehouse property to a married couple and their children who enter the shipping industry. State law permits joint tenancy for such estates when the conveyance runs to spouses and their issue. The grantees therefore took title as joint tenants rather than tenants in common.
No. Courts enforce only reasonable, time-limited restraints on partition. A perpetual bar is invalid because it would permanently destroy the co-tenant's right to exit concurrent ownership.
No. Property held in joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety passes by operation of law to the surviving co-tenant and is not part of the probate estate subject to a will.
No. Joint tenancy or tenancy in common does not by itself establish a partnership even when the co-owners share profits derived from the property.
The surviving spouse's fractional interest in property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship is included in the augmented estate. The fraction equals one divided by one plus the number of surviving joint tenants.
…his wife but with no genuine belief that she is legally married to him acquires by reason of cohabitation alone the rights of a co-tenant in his earnings and accumulations during the period of their relationship." (21 Cal.2d at p. 684.) Citing Flanagan v. Capital Nat. Bank (1931) 213 Cal. 664 [3 P.2d 307], which held that…