In relation to estate law joint tenancy is a form of ownership of the same property by two or more people. The owners of the property are called tenants, and share equal ownership, and have full equal rights to property. The individuals, who are called joint tenants, share equal ownership of the property and have the equal, undivided right to keep or do away with the property. Joint tenancy generates rights of survivorship, providing that if a joint tenant should die then the remaining property will be transferred to survivors. Joint tenancy should not be used if the owners do not want the property title pass on to the survivor. According to the Free Legal Dictionary, joint tenancy is “adopted from common-law tradition, joint tenancy is comparative to another form of concurrent property ownership: Tenancy in Common, a less restrictive form of ownership that sometimes results when joint tenancies do not exist” (Free Legal Dictionary 2010).
Several key characteristics that distinguish joint ownership from tenancy in common include, joint tenants own an undivided interest of the entire property; each share is equal, and no one joint tenant can ever have a larger share. This differs from a tenant in common because tenant shares vary in proportions; one may have a larger share of property than the other tenants or only a fraction. Another distinction is that the estates of the joint tenants are fixed and unalterable by any condition for exactly the same period of time such as, the tenants' lifetime. In contrast the tenant in common is free to dispose of his or her share without the restrictive conditions placed on a joint tenancy. Unlike joint tenancy, tenancy in common has no right of survivorship. Therefore no other tenant in common is entitled to receive a share of the property upon a tenant in common's death; instead, the property goes to the deceased's heirs. This differs from the joint tenants because all enjoy the same rights until one of them dies. Under the right of survivorship, the death of one joint tenant automatically transfers the remainder of the property in equal parts to the survivors. When only one joint tenant is left alive, he or she receives the entire estate (Estate Street Partners 2007).

References

The Free Legal Dictionary. (2010). Joint Tenancy. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Joint+Tenancy

Estate Street Partners, LLC. (2007). Asset Protection Joint Tenancy, Community Property, Tenancy in Common. Retrieved from http://www.ultratrust.com/asset-protection-joint-tenancy-community-property.html