What are the types of Joint Ownership of Property?

A joint ownership of property agreement, and its content decides what type of ownership it is. The joint ownership of property is always within two or more than two legally legitimate people or parties. The following are some commonly observed types of ownership agreements. While going through the following categories, one must note that a tenancy is a synonym of ownership.

Joint Ownership with Rights of Survivorship: The joint ownership with rights of survivorship is an agreement, where more than one people hold 'shares', of the property. These shares are not divisible but a joint owner can rightfully and legally sell his 'share' to another party at a price higher than the earlier price, with the consent of others. With the death of a joint owner, the property automatically gets transferred to a heir, in accordance with the operation of law. However in the absence of a heir, the share automatically passes over to the surviving joint owners.

Tenancy by Entirety: A tenancy by entirety or ownership by entirety is a unique joint ownership of property. In such an ownership, a husband and wife own equal joint ownership of property rights and share of the property. In such a situation either is prohibited from selling the share. Joint ownership of property after divorce, thus often becomes a difficult situation and the court may intervene in case of a liquidation dispute. You may also read more on divorce property settlement agreement.

Tenants in Common: Tenants in common is similar to that of a joint ownership, with rights of survivorship. The difference is that the owner can sell his share to another person without the consent of other owners. Another differentiating point is that the owners can own unequal of non-homogeneous shares. The ownership can be passed on to an heir only by the way of a will.

Community Owned Property: The concept of community owned property is different from that of normal ownership. A property becomes a community owned property, only when it is acquired through a marriage. The community property law, unfortunately is applicable only in 9 states, namely, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington. According to the terms of a community property, any property acquired before marriage or by inheritance, is considered and treated as a personal property. The community ownership is in most cases, applicable for people who purchase a property just after their marriage. Now, one might argue that a community property can also become a property under the provisions in entirety. A property becomes a community property, on the signing of a contract between the joint owners. The advantage of such a property ownership is that the couple can have a house plan or an estate plan that becomes applicable in case of death of a particular spouse. An estate plan basically effectively and legally transfers the lien to the surviving spouse.