Joint Tenancy, Tenancy in Common, Entireties, and Severalty

First identify the ownership form. Then ask whether anything changed it before an owner died. Tenancy in common has no automatic survivorship. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship and tenancy by the entireties do, while those ownership arrangements remain intact.

Florida rules checked October 18, 2026. The examples below are original study scenarios involving investment property; they do not address special homestead inheritance restrictions.

Key check: did a sale, conveyance, or divorce change the ownership before the death? Apply survivorship only if it still existed at that time.

Jump to: Compare the three ownership forms · Example 1: Unequal shares and inheritance · Example 2: A sale before a death · Example 3: Married owners · Severalty and the last survivor

A quick method for ownership questions

1. Write the initial ownership form and each interest.
2. Put sales, conveyances, divorce, and deaths in chronological order.
3. Update the ownership form after each relevant event.
4. Apply survivorship only if it exists at the time of death.
5. Distinguish automatic survivorship from inheritance under a will or succession law.

Compare the three ownership forms

The Florida Bar's Buying a Home guide explains these common forms. “Undivided” means an ownership interest in the whole property, not a particular room or physical half of the land.

Severalty: what if only one owner remains?

Ownership in severalty means sole ownership by one legal owner. Despite the sound of the word, it does not mean several people own the property. One legal owner can be an individual or an entity. A corporation that alone owns a parcel can hold it in severalty even though the corporation has several shareholders.

Assume Avery and Blake own an investment parcel as valid joint tenants with right of survivorship, neither has severed the arrangement, and Blake dies. Avery becomes the sole owner by survivorship. The resulting ownership is in severalty; there is no longer a joint tenancy between two living owners.

Change the facts: Avery, Blake, and Cameron are three joint tenants, and Blake dies while survivorship remains intact. Avery and Cameron are still co-owners. They have not each become the sole owner of the whole parcel. Count the surviving legal owners before choosing “severalty.”

Severalty answers how many owners hold title; fee simple or a life estate answers what estate is held. Sole ownership also does not mean the property is free of mortgage liens. See the ownership objectives in the FREC Course I syllabus.

Quick check

One LLC takes title to a lot. Its three members do not individually take title. Is the lot necessarily held by three tenants in common? No. The LLC is the single legal owner. Analyze the titleholder, not the number of people behind the entity.

Florida's default rule matters

Under Florida Statutes §689.15, a conveyance to multiple owners generally creates a tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly provides for survivorship; estates by the entireties are the exception. Merely seeing “two owners” or “joint owners” does not establish JTWROS.

The same statute provides that divorce converts an estate by the entireties to tenancy in common. Do not keep applying spousal survivorship after the facts say the marriage has been dissolved.

Example 1: Unequal shares and inheritance

Leah and Marcus own an investment lot as tenants in common: Leah owns 70% and Marcus owns 30%. Marcus dies, leaving his interest to his daughter in a valid will.

Leah still owns 70%. Marcus's 30% follows the estate process and the valid disposition. Leah does not receive it automatically just because she is the other owner. A co-owner could also be an heir or beneficiary, but that is a separate reason to inherit.

Example 2: A sale before a death

Alex and Blair own an investment parcel as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Alex validly conveys Alex's entire interest to Casey. Casey later dies.

1. Before the sale: Alex and Blair have JTWROS.
2. After the sale: Casey holds the acquired interest as a tenant in common with Blair. The conveyance severed survivorship between those interests.
3. At Casey's death: Casey's interest passes through the applicable estate or succession process. Blair does not automatically receive it.

A joint tenant's conveyance to a third party can sever the joint tenancy. See the Florida Supreme Court's decision in Kozacik v. Kozacik. For a question with several owners, trace each transferred interest; do not assume the purchaser acquires the seller's former survivorship rights.

Example 3: Married owners

Jordan and Taylor are married and hold title as tenants by the entireties. Jordan dies while that ownership arrangement remains intact.

Taylor owns the property by survivorship. Do not describe Jordan as leaving a separate 50% TBE interest by will. Entireties ownership also does not allow one spouse acting alone to sell a separate half to an outsider. The Florida Bar discusses the unified nature of this estate in its analysis of tenancy by the entireties.

Marriage is required for TBE, but married people can hold property in other forms. Read the title facts given. A question that supplies only “a married person owns property” has not necessarily established TBE.

Try it yourself

1. Two unrelated buyers take title to an investment lot. Their deed does not expressly create survivorship. Which ownership form generally results in Florida?
2. Two owners hold an investment parcel as JTWROS. Neither conveys or otherwise severs the tenancy. One dies with a will leaving everything to a sibling. Who receives the deceased owner's property interest?
3. A married couple holds an investment property as TBE. Their marriage is dissolved, and no separate transfer changes title. What ownership form results?

Answers and explanations

1. Tenancy in common. Multiple names alone do not create survivorship under Florida's default rule.
2. The surviving joint tenant. With an intact JTWROS, survivorship controls that interest; the general gift in the will does not redirect it to the sibling.
3. Tenancy in common. Section 689.15 supplies this result upon dissolution of the marriage.

Keep ownership form separate from estate duration

Fee simple and life estate describe the estate held. TIC, JTWROS, and TBE describe how co-owners hold title. Review Freehold vs. Leasehold Estates and Read Exam Questions and Compare Answer Choices.

If a permitted practice question seems ambiguous, submit a support request with its complete wording, course location, and the event that confused you. Actual ownership and inheritance questions require review of the deed and circumstances by a Florida attorney.