Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
For year my parents have been going through a lengthy divorce that seems to never end. They own several single family homes in California, Louisiana, and Georgia. They have always lived in California, however. For all these properties the titles were held as joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Early in the divorce my mother & her attorney filed the necessary paperwork to sever the "right of survivorship." If she were to die, she did not want her half of the property to go to my father. My questions is this: does it also work the other way, i.e. if my father dies will his half of the property go into his estate & not directly to my mother?
Thank you very much.
2 Answers from Attorneys
A severance of joint tenancy which is effective in California is effective for both parties. I have no idea how it works in Lousiana or Georgia
Mr. Christian's answer reflects the caution with which attorneys licensed in State X have to use in answering questions based on the laws of State Y.
In California, severance of a joint tenancy by either party will immediately turn their co-ownership into a tenancy in common. Under a tenancy in common, each tenant in common owns his or her share in full, but has no "automatic" claim of right to inherit the other's share, and also is free to transfer his or her share by will (or trust) to anyone, making it different in this important respect from a joint tenancy (which carries with it this "right of survivorship").
Although centuries ago, there might have been some gender-specific rules regarding inheritance, generally speaking it works the same way for both the male and female joint tenant, as well as for both the male and female tenant of common.
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