Joint Tenancy For Married Couples In Riverside
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Step-Up in Basis for Joint Accounts In a joint account, half of the assets are deemed to be owned by each party. This is common when married people own assets together. If a couple has a joint account and spouse A dies, half of the account deemed to belong to spouse A gets a step-up in basis.
Most married couples will hold title as community property with right to survivorship or as a trust. Sometimes, like if there are children from a previous marriage, a couple will hold title differently. We personally hold our home in our trust.
Joint tenancy is a way for two or more people to own property in equal shares so that when one of the joint tenants dies, the property can pass to the surviving joint tenant(s) without having to go through probate court.
Unity of Time, Title, Interest, and Possession: For a joint tenancy to be valid, all joint tenants must acquire their interest in the property at the same time, through the same deed, with equal interest, and have equal rights to possess the entire property.
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.
This concept is known as the 'step-up in basis'. In California, the step-up in basis rule recalibrates the property's value to its market worth at the time of the original owner's death.
For instance, if you're married, the most common way to title your home is Tenancy by the Entirety (TBE).
Joint tenants (JT), or joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS), are the forms of ownership most commonly used by married couples.