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.
Tenants in common gives you more protections and you can specify in a deed of trust what you would want to happen in the event of relationship breakdown (eg if one of you has first dibs to buy the other out, or a time limit on doing so etc) which is definitely better to decide now whilst you still like each other!
Further tenancy in common allows parties to hold unequal shares of property interest. Joint tenancy requires each co-owner to hold equal shares of property. Further, co-owners must transfer the deed at the same time. In this sense, joint tenancy is rigid compared to tenancy in common.
Joint tenants also own an undivided interest in property. The main difference between joint tenants and tenants-in-common is that, upon the death of a joint tenant, that co-owner's interests are extinguished and the surviving co-owner(s) receive the property.
Joint tenants have equal property ownership, share profits and liabilities, and often have a right of survivorship. Tenants in common can have unequal shares, lack a right of survivorship, and can pass their share to chosen beneficiaries.
If a tenant in common dies, their interest in the property passes to their heirs or devisees, not to the other owners. Joint Tenancy operates differently because a joint tenant's interest is equal an undivided. When title is held in joint tenancy, there are rights of survivorship for the other vested owners.
A joint tenancy is where two or more persons own the same property together. Together, the joint tenants own the whole asset, sharing undivided ownership. Common examples include real estate, shares and bank accounts.
In joint tenancy, the deed of trust establishes equal rights for all co-owners and includes a right of survivorship. On the other hand, in tenancy in common, the deed of trust clarifies that each co-owner has separate shares of the property with no right of survivorship.
Joint tenants (JT), or joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS), are the forms of ownership most commonly used by married couples.
Utilizing a revocable trust is the best way for a married couple to take title. Titling property in your trust avoids probate upon the death of both the initial and surviving spouses and preserves the capital gains step up for the entire property on the first death.