Joint Tenancy / Tenants in Common
Sometimes real estate (or other property) has been transferred by an individual to him/herself and another person as a joint tenant in a house deed transfer, often in a mistaken effort to avoid probate. This means if the individual dies, the other party receives the entire property by right of survivorship. Sometimes a survivorship deed has been executed and recorded under a mistaken idea this property deed transfer can be easily undone. However, this is not the case. To unwind the transfer, the transferee must execute a deed or title to the property back to the original owner. Family mediation can be helpful in resolving joint tenancy disputes.
Problems also arise in connection with tenancies in common, types of property ownership where the co-owners do not inherit the property if one owner dies. Two people might own property as tenants in common, because their parent gave them the family home in his or her last will and testament. This makes the siblings co-owners, which can raise all types of questions, especially if one of the siblings uses the property, and the other does not. These issues can end up in a costly and drawn-out partition action in probate courts. Family mediation is a good way to try to equitably resolve the co-ownership without litigation.
If you are considering estate mediation, and would like to speak with a MCFM mediator, search our database for estate and probate mediators specializing in Joint Tenancy within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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