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How do joint tenants with rights of survivorship in Georgia work?
In this article, you’ll learn about:
Let’s dig in.
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Joint tenancy means joint ownership where two people own real property together.
They each have equal:
Joint tenants can get created by anyone, including:
Joint tenants get created with a “right of survivorship” in Georgia.
This means that the surviving spouse or partner gets your share when you die.
This is commonly used for estate planning for married couples.
Joint tenants with rights of survivorship allow you to skip probate in Georgia.
Let’s say that there are two joint tenancy owners of the property; Jack and Amber.
Their ownership is split 50/50.
If Jack dies, Amber will absorb Jack’s 50% automatically.
Because she has rights of survivorship, the property will not go through probate.
Jack’s 50% of the property will get automatically transferred to Amber.
And she will be 100% owner of the entire property with undivided interest.
Read More: Surviving Spouse Rights In Georgia
In Georgia, a joint tenancy gets created when the property gets purchased.
For a jointly owned property to be joint tenancy, you need to meet the “four unities.”
The four unities for joint tenants with rights of survivorship in Georgia are:
Let’s say that you don’t have ALL 4 of these unities.
In this case, you would own the property in “tenants in common.”
It would not be joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS).
Also, note that for joint tenants with rights of survivorship:
Joint tenants with rights of survivorship create rights of survivorship upon death.
When joint tenants die, their ownership interests automatically transfer to the other partner.
At the moment of the co-owner’s death, the following goes into effect:
Joint tenants with rights of survivorship override a will.
Let’s say that, for the property:
The joint tenants with rights of survivorship will override the will.
The property will not have to go through probate in Georgia to determine this.
The surviving joint owner immediately gains the deceased owner’s:
The last surviving joint tenant becomes the sole owner of the property.
They can:
These are the pros and cons of joint tenancy in Georgia.
A joint tenant with rights of survivorship is perfect for married couples.
It allows them to pass property directly to each other without probate.
There is a possibility that a creditor can come after
When one tenant dies, the property avoids probate and creditors.
But creditors can come after the tenant’s interest in the property while they are alive.
Let’s look at the main differences between joint tenancy and tenancy in common.
Joint tenants must:
With a tenancy in common, owners:
With joint tenancy in Georgia:
You have the legal right to sell your ownership rights to your portion of the property.
But when you do, joint tenancy converts to tenants in common for the remaining owners.
And you will owe capital gains taxes on the share that you sell.
This form of ownership is the least messy with married couples and partners.
With tenants in common in Georgia:
Tenants in common can create issues with inheritance.
The heirs may not understand operations or be aligned with the goals of the property.
This type of ownership can get messy.
Let’s discuss how to create a joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.
You’ll need to declare their joint tenancy on the title document or deed of the property.
You need to:
Fill out the form on this page to get legal advice on creating joint tenants for your property.
You need to make sure that your deed has the correct legal language on it.
Our family law attorneys have experience setting these up for partners and spouses.
Our attorneys will set up a co-ownership agreement for you to hold the title in.
Here are some questions that we get asked by our clients.
You can usually sever a joint tenancy in Georgia unilaterally.
This means you do not need the other tenant’s knowledge or permission.
The easiest way to sever your joint tenancy is to sell your rights to the property.
Let’s say that you own 50% of a property in joint tenancy in Georgia.
You can sell your 50% of the property.
This would sever the joint tenancy.
The ownership structure is automatically converted to tenants in common.
Some scenarios that joint tenancy can get severed are:
You can sell your share of the property without the consent of the other tenants.
But doing so will cause the joint tenancy to dissolve.
The new ownership structure will be tenants in common.
This is because, for joint tenancy, all owners must acquire the property simultaneously.
But tenants in common can acquire the property at different times.
You can sell your share of the property to:
You need a joint tenancy in Georgia if you want to skip probate.
And if you want to pass your share of the property to the other owner.
This keeps the property out of reach of creditors.
Creditors will come after the property during the probate process.
Since the property avoids probate, creditors cannot touch it.
The types of property joint tenancy applies to may include:
Married couples should consider owning property in joint tenancy in Georgia.
This allows the surviving spouse to inherit the other spouse’s share of the property.
Then, they can choose to pass down the property to their heirs as they wish.
If you don’t have a will or joint tenancy, the property gets split per intestate laws in Georgia.
Meaning that the children and the surviving spouse get equal shares.
And the surviving spouse won’t get full ownership of the property.
You can quit claim deed the property to add a spouse to a house deed in Georgia.
Fill out the form on this page and we can do this for you.
Fill out the form on this page to set up joint tenancy or tenants in common.
We have the experience needed to ensure that your rights are protected.
This means that you don’t wrongfully lose assets to creditors.
We also make sure that the probate process is smooth and fair.
This means you don’t get raked over the coals financially.
After you fill out the form below, we will set up your free consultation.
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