Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship Right of survivorship means that when one owner dies, the surviving owners get the dead owner's share. No probate is necessary. This is unlike a tenancy in common, which requires probate and which gives the ownership share to the deceased's heirs.
Community Property with Right of Survivorship For example, let's say that married couple Joe and Jane own a inium as community property with the Right of Survivorship. If Jane dies, Joe automatically becomes the sole owner of the condo without going through the probate process.
Joint tenancy is most common among married couples because it helps property owners avoid probate. Without joint tenancy, a spouse would have to wait for their partner's Last Will to go through a legal review process—which can take months or even years.
Survivorship Agreements Texas law does not include a presumption of survivorship. In order for survivorship rights to apply to jointly-owned property, the owners must execute a written agreement covering survivorship rights. This must be filed with the county.
Right of survivorship in Texas In many states, the property may transfer to the remaining co-owner automatically without a separate agreement. But this is not the case in Texas.
For example, if two unmarried partners make equal contributions toward purchasing a inium and they choose to hold title as joint tenants, the surviving joint tenant will automatically become the sole and separate owner of the inium after the first joint tenant dies.
To challenge the right of survivorship, the party contesting the right must file a lawsuit and prove their case in court with the help of a lawyer.
If all the joint owners of an asset intended that when one of them died their share would pass to the other joint owner(s), then this is a survivorship asset. This type of asset is always owned equally and the deceased's share of the asset passes to the other joint owner(s) by survivorship.
Should the husband pass away before his wife, the home will not automatically pass to her by “right of survivorship”. Instead, it will become part of his probate estate. This means that there will need to be a court probate case opened and an executor appointed.
Right of survivorship in Texas When joint owners of real estate property have this agreement properly prepared, signed in front of a notary and filed in the county records, if one owner dies, the property becomes the sole property of the other owner. Immediately and automatically.