Also known as: indivision · indivisum · undivided · inalienable
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An interest or obligation not separable into parts. It is held by two or more persons in undivided shares so that each owner possesses the whole rather than a distinct portion.
Lena and Mark purchased an 80-acre parcel during their marriage with a mix of inherited cash and farm profits. After Lena titled the land in her name alone, the divorce court treated the parcel as marital property. Each spouse therefore held a present undivided one-half interest that could not be carved into separate physical portions without a court order.
After the last party to a multiple-party account died, the sums belonged to the two surviving POD beneficiaries. Because the statute awarded the funds in equal and undivided shares, neither beneficiary could demand a specific dollar amount until the account was liquidated and divided by agreement or court order.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The creators granted ABC the right to broadcast their comedy programs. When ABC cut twenty-four minutes for commercials, the creators sued for copyright infringement. Under the then-prevailing rule that copyright was indivisible, only the proprietor could sue, forcing the court to decide whether the license transferred ownership or merely permission to use.
Each spouse owns the whole of every marital asset rather than a distinct physical half. Either spouse may therefore manage or encumber the property subject to the good-faith duty owed the other, and the interest survives even if title appears in only one name.
Supporting sources
The statute awards the funds in equal and undivided shares. No beneficiary acquires a right of survivorship in another beneficiary's share, so each must claim through the estate or by agreement if a co-beneficiary later dies.
Supporting sources
Only the proprietor could place the correct name in the copyright notice or sue for infringement. Transferring less than the entire copyright was treated as a license rather than an assignment, limiting who could enforce the right.
Supporting sources
…recorded by BBC are symbiotic elements of a single production. Therefore, according to ABC, each contributor possesses an undivided ownership of all copyrightable elements in the final work and BBC could thus have licensed use of the script, including editing, written by appellants. The joint work theory as extended in…