Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: grant deed

The usual language would be something like "We, the undersigned, grant to John Doe, an unmarried man, and Mary Roe, an unmarried woman, as joint tenants with right of survivorship, all that property in Valley County, California commonly known as Blackacre, and more particularly described in Exhibit "A" attached hereto." The form is shown in Civil Code section 1092. Joint tenancy is defined in the Civil Code at section 683.

Needless to say, the foregoing language assumes not only that you are not married to each other, but that neither of you is married to someone else!

Before acquiring property as joint tenants, i.e., with right of survivorship as per your inquiry, I strongly recommend that you get advice from a professional such as a tax expert or estate-planning attorney. If the reasons for joint tenancy or right of survivorship have to do with avoiding probate, there are usually far superior methods such as use of revocable trusts that both avoid probate and have much more favorable tax consequences. You may be better off taking title as tenants in common rather than as joint tenants; there is no right of survivorship but you can create that right through your trusts while avoiding capital gains taxes on the half interest that will be inherited by the survivor.

Bear in mind that the right of survivorship does not "guarantee" that the other will get the property, since either joint tenant can terminate the joint tenancy without the permission or even the knowledge of the other by preparing and recording a declaration of intent to sever the joint tenancy and turn it into a tenancy in common.