tenancy by the entirety
Tenancy by the Entirety
A type of concurrent estate, tenancy by the entirety is meant for married couples. Go through this article for a brief overview about this legal concept.
- Each spouse has equal rights to enjoy and possess the property that is jointly owned by them as tenancy in the entirety. Only real property comes under the ambit of this provision. In some cases, even personal property is found to be included.
- As in case of joint tenants with the right of survivorship, tenancy by the entirety too attributes a right of survivorship on each spouse. This means, on the death of one spouse, the other is entitled to the entire interest in the whole property.
- However, the parties cannot unilaterally make any decision to sell or divide the property or to end the tenancy or to dispose off the property by will. Any decision regarding the property must be the joint decision of the spouses.
- In case of a divorce, the tenancy automatically gets converted to tenancy in common, wherein the parties will be entitled to individual shares in the property.
- One of the greatest advantages of tenancy by the entirety is that this type of concurrent estate can be a protective shield against creditors of any one spouse. In other words, the creditors cannot touch a jointly held property as a tenancy in the entirety.
- However, this clause is applicable to those debts that are contracted outside or before the marriage and not those that are contracted within the marriage. It may happen that a spouse with a huge personal debt inherits property as tenancy by the entirety, then also the property may be seized. If one of the spouses file a petition for bankruptcy, then also the property will be shielded partially.
- Another important aspect of this clause is that if the debtor spouse dies, then the lien cannot be enforced against the property, which will be owned by the non debtor spouse. But in case the debtor spouse survives, the lien can be enforced against the whole property.