Also known as: sever joint tenancy · severance of joint tenancy · severed joint tenancy · severance · joint tenancy severance
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A method of converting a joint tenancy into a tenancy in common by destroying one or more of the four unities of time, title, interest, and possession. The destruction occurs most commonly through a conveyance by one joint tenant to a third party. Under the modern approach, a lease by one joint tenant does not necessarily sever the tenancy.
Sierra Santos and Spencer Silver held Blackacre as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Sierra leased her undivided interest to a pharmaceutical startup for five years. Sierra died before the lease term ended. Because the lease did not sever the joint tenancy, the startup's possessory rights ended upon Sierra's death and Spencer took the entire property free of the lease.
Solomon Silver, Sean Steele, and Simon Stern held Greenacre as joint tenants. Solomon conveyed his interest to Skylar Sullivan. The conveyance destroyed the unity of title among the original three, converting the estate into a tenancy in common between Skylar and the remaining joint tenants. Upon Sean’s later death, Skylar’s interest passed by will rather than by survivorship.
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Under the modern approach, a lease by one joint tenant does not necessarily sever the joint tenancy. The lessee acquires only the rights of occupancy held by the leasing tenant and is treated as a cotenant for the lease term. If the leasing tenant dies before the lease expires, the lease is extinguished and the surviving joint tenants take free of it.
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A joint tenancy is typically severed by a conveyance by one joint tenant to a third party. That conveyance destroys one or more of the four unities and converts the estate into a tenancy in common between the grantee and the remaining joint tenants.
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When divorce converts a tenancy by the entirety into a tenancy in common, a lease by one former spouse survives against the successor. In contrast, when a lease does not sever the joint tenancy and the leasing tenant dies, the lease is extinguished upon death.
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