Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York
If there are 3 owners on a property and 2 die is the 3rd owner considered the sole owner of the property even if one of the dead owners had a will?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Not unless the title reads " jointly with right of survivorship".
The answer is complicated. It depends on how title is held. For example, if the three are "joint tenants" then the survivors become the owners. If they are tenants in common, the decedents' interest goes to their estates or heirs. But the result is often muddied by adverse possession. You need to look at the deed or other instrument (such as a will). If the three got the property through inheritance from a person who died without a will, things can be even more complicated.
The law assumes a tenancy in common unless other facts are shown.