Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

I believe you mean 'best'.

You can have all children added to the deed, with the form of ownership of the property to be 'joint tenants with rights of survivorship'. If one party dies, then the other owners divide that deceased owner's share.

If the 'heirs' survive both original owners (the unmarried couple), the property will continue to be passed to the surviving 'child' unless the 'children' change ownership to a 'tenancy in the entirety' (meaning that that person's share is passed to the heirs, and not to the surviving party).

Short answer: Convey the property to the children with a "life estate" for the unmarried couple.

Long answer:

I assume you are using the word "entirety" in the colloquial sense, not as a legal term.

If they are not married, they can take title as either:

1. Joint tenants. Joint tenants have a "right of survivorship," which means that if one of the owners dies, the other will become owner of the deceased owner's share.

2. Tenants in common. Tenants in common own a percentage. If the conveyance document is silent as to the percentage and 2 people are owners, then they own 50% each. If one of the owners dies, his or her share will be passed to his or her estate. So his or her heirs will own the decedent's percentage. Heir are determined either by intestacy laws or by a valid will.

I do not see an automatic way for the children of the first departed to obtain ownership upon the death of the second just by altering the ownership type in the deed (or a cooperative stock certificate and proprietary lease, as the case may be). If all parties are in agreement as to who should own the property upon their deaths, I would suggest conveying the property to the intended heirs (the children in your example) and reserving a "life estate" in the deed for the unmarried couple. This means that as long as they are alive, they have exclusive use of the property. Once both of them pass, the child becomes the absolute owner.

I agree with both authors, but also suggest that ownership might be registered as a living trust, in which the parties can spell out what is to happen as each dies, and who should ultimately inherit when both pass away. This may eliminate the necessity of secondary documents, which may be hard to obtain if the parties become estranged. I do caution, however, that whatever be done, the parties have some written agreement (although the trust can contain it by internal language or in a schedule attached) to cover such things as responsibility for bills and operating expenses, what happens if relationship terminates before one dies, what happens if they have children together (possibly?), etc. I also suggest a good real estate attorney be consulted and assist in preparing whatever document is used, so all eventual possibilities are coverd.