What happens when a co-owner dies if the property is titled as joint tenants with rights of survivorship?
Question Details: My mother and her sister (my aunt) inherited property when their father (my grandfather) passed away. The deed is still in my grandfather's name with JTWROS. What happens to the land when my mother and/or my aunt pass? Does it automatically transfer to the sole remaining heir?
If your mother and your aunt hold a title to the property as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, then upon the death of one of the joint tenants the surviving joint tenant will own the property as a whole without the need to probate (property held in joint tenancy passes outside the probate estate). However, either of the joint tenants is free to give her interest in the property away during lifetime either by gift, devise, bequest (through a will), and in this case upon her death her interest will pass according to the terms of the will.
