There are many ways to own a house.

You can own it solely, jointly, or in common.

A solely owned property is unequivocally your own. You have full ownership over it. You can sell it, rent it, or leave it to someone in your will.

A jointly owned property is when two people own a home together. This sounds simple, but the term “jointly owned” is a legal one that signifies various legal rights.

Two joint owners share the property equally. Each is allowed full use and enjoyment of the property and each owner is entitled to half the property when it is sold. Both owners need to be in agreement to sell the property if they want it sold.

Typically, joint owners own a house “with rights of survivorship,” this is a phrasing common in deeds that instructs when one joint owner dies the house passes to the other owner wholly. Meaning, there is no need for probate, there is no need to deed the house to the new owner, there is no need to buy it out, etc etc.

Sometimes a deed will not indicate “rights of survivorship” and when one person dies the probate court will refuse to pass the house automatically to the owner. In all honesty, practically speaking, a lot of the houses which were deeded without “rights of survivorship” typically fly under the radar and go unnoticed until they are to be sold years later. The second owner usually pays the mortgage business as usual assuming the house was passed automatically. It isn’t until the house is sold that the title company sees the defect in the deed and then opens a massive can of worms.

That’s why it’s so important if you own a house jointly, to have it in survivorship.

Without that key language, the house may be subject to a lengthy and unneccesary probate process.

There are other ways to pass your house automatically, including a life estate deed.

To learn more about your property and the best way to pass it to your heirs, contact us today. Jake Dressler is an estate planning lawyer licensed in Connecticut and Massachusetts with a main office in Springfield and satellite offices in Hartford and New Haven.