Also known as: tenancy by the entirety
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
The complete and undivided whole of a thing, as opposed to any part or moiety. The law sometimes treats judgments, contracts, or statutes as incapable of division into separate components.
The complete and undivided whole of a thing, as opposed to any part or moiety. The law sometimes treats judgments, contracts, or statutes as incapable of division into separate components.
After Congress passed a statute containing tax credits, transparency rules, and penalty provisions, the President issued a signing statement declaring only the tax credits void and directing agencies to ignore the rest. Sun Mall sued the agency that refused to process its credit claims. The court held that the statute had to be treated as an indivisible whole, rendering the selective nullification ineffective.
A concurrent estate in land held by a husband and wife that can be created only when the jurisdiction permits such ownership and the conveyance names the spouses and their issue or a designated class of issue.
A grantor executed a deed transferring Blackacre to Edward Everett and Eileen Epstein, husband and wife, and to the issue of their marriage. In a jurisdiction satisfying the Restatement conditions, the deed created a tenancy by the entirety rather than separate fee interests. Title therefore could not be partitioned during the marriage without both spouses' consent.
A concurrent estate in land held by a husband and wife that can be created only when the jurisdiction permits such ownership and the conveyance names the spouses and their issue or a designated class of issue.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Ambler Realty attacked a municipal zoning ordinance that restricted its land to residential uses, claiming the entire ordinance diminished the property's value. The Court treated the ordinance as a single regulatory scheme rather than isolated provisions and evaluated its overall impact on the owner's rights.
After a one-house veto clause was declared unconstitutional, Congress argued that the entire immigration statute must fall with it. The Court examined whether the veto provision could be severed while leaving the remainder of the statute intact and enforceable.
No. The President's veto power permits only approval or rejection of an entire bill. Any attempt to nullify or amend discrete portions after presentment violates the requirement that statutes be enacted or rejected as a whole.
While divorce proceedings were pending, Ethan Evans executed a will leaving the marital home to a third party. He died before the divorce was final and while the tenancy by the entirety remained intact. Title passed automatically to his surviving spouse by operation of law, and the will provision had no effect on the property.
A deed conveyed land to Esther Eisenberg and her husband and their designated issue. Because the jurisdiction recognized tenancy by the entirety as a permitted form of concurrent ownership, the conveyance satisfied the statutory prerequisites and created that estate rather than a joint tenancy or tenancy in common.
No. Property held in tenancy by the entirety passes by operation of law to the surviving spouse upon death. A will attempting to devise that property to a third party has no effect while the tenancy remains intact.
A conveyance creates a tenancy by the entirety only when the jurisdiction permits that form of ownership and the deed names the grantees as husband and wife together with their issue or a designated class of issue.
…residential uses; and the attack is directed, not against any specific provision or provisions, but against the ordinance as an entirety. Assuming the premises, the existence and maintenance of the ordinance, in effect, constitutes a present invasion of appellee’s property rights and a threat to continue it. Under these…