Also known as: tenant by the entirety · tenancy by the entirety · tenancies by the entirety · TBE · tenancy by entirety
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A form of concurrent ownership available only to married couples under which each spouse is seized of the whole estate rather than an undivided share. The estate features an indestructible right of survivorship that passes title to the surviving spouse by operation of law upon the death of the other. Neither spouse may unilaterally alienate or encumber the property and individual creditors of one spouse ordinarily cannot reach it.
Thomas Thompson and Tara Tran held their home as tenants by the entirety. While divorce proceedings were pending Thomas executed a will leaving his interest in the house to his sister. Thomas died before the divorce was final. Title passed automatically to Tara by operation of law and the will had no effect on the property.
Tobias Thomas conveyed land to Trevor Tate and Theo Thomas, husband and wife, and the heirs of their bodies. The jurisdiction still recognizes estates tail and tenancies by the entirety. The couple therefore held the estate tail as tenants by the entirety with the designated class of their issue taking the future interest.
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Thaddeus Tran conveyed property to Thomas Thompson and Tara Tran, husband and wife, together with their issue. Because the jurisdiction recognizes tenancy by the entirety as a permitted concurrent form, the spouses took the present estate as tenants by the entirety with their issue holding the future interest.
Trevor Tate and Theo Thomas held land as tenants by the entirety. When they later sought to divide the parcel, each possessed the same statutory power to compel partition that an owner of a fee simple absolute held in the same concurrent form would possess in that state.
Tobias Thomas and Thaddeus Tran held an estate tail as tenants by the entirety. Each spouse enjoyed the identical power to compel partition that an owner of a fee simple absolute held in the same concurrent form would possess under the law of the state where the land lay.
Thomas Thompson and Tara Tran owned their home as tenants by the entirety. A judgment creditor of Thomas alone attempted to attach his interest to satisfy the debt. Because the spouses held the property as a single legal entity, the creditor could not reach any separable share.
No. The estate treats the spouses as a single legal entity so neither may alienate or encumber the property without the other's consent.
No. Title passes by operation of law to the surviving spouse and a will cannot dispose of the nonprobate interest.
Ordinarily no. The indivisible marital unit protects the property from unilateral claims of separate creditors absent wrongful conduct.
Each possesses the same statutory power to compel partition that an owner of a fee simple absolute held in the same concurrent form would have in that state.
…49, 60 (1959): It is clear that the Married Women’s Act created an equality between the spouses in New Jersey, insofar as tenancies by the entirety are concerned. If, as we have previously concluded, the husband could alienate his right of survivorship at common law, the wife, by virtue of the act, can alienate her right of…