how tenancy by the entirety works
tenancy by the entirety can usually only occur when the property owners are married to one another at the time they receive the title however some states do allow tenancy by the entirety for common law spouses and domestic partners this type of legal agreement doesn t apply to other types of partnerships such as friends siblings parent child relationships or business associates 1spouses who mutually own property through tenancy by the entirety are referred to as tenants by entirety each spouse legally has equal rights to ownership of the property in question this allows them to inhabit and use the property as they see fit the condition of mutual ownership of the entire property means the spouses must be in agreement when making decisions about the property for example one spouse doesn t have the legal right to sell off or develop part of the property without the other s consent 1there is no subdivision that separates the property into equal parts between the spouses each owns 100 so even if one spouse writes a will that grants an interest stake in the property to an heir the power and rights of tenancy by the entirety creates a right of survivorship and invalidates and supersedes that aspect of the will requirements of tenancy by the entiretyin order to become tenants by the entirety of a certain property such as a joint brokerage account the prospective tenants must be married at the time they come into ownership of the property specific requirements vary from state to state some states extend tenancy by the entirety to domestic partners or common law spouses 2the establishment of tenancy by the entirety differs across jurisdictions as well in some states any married couple that buys property is assumed to be tenants in the entirety some states may limit tenancy to entirety to real estate only or only to homestead property where the couple resides advantages and disadvantages of tenancy by the entiretythe main advantage of a tenancy by the entirety is to protect the interests of a surviving spouse when one tenant dies there is no possibility that their partner will lose the property there is no need for the property to go through probate and no other heir can evict the surviving spouse but a tenancy by the entirety only prevents the property from being probated if one spouse dies first when the surviving spouse dies the property must be probated as normal the same is true if both spouses die together tenancy by the entirety is not available in all states and it is sometimes restricted to real estate only moreover the couple must own equal shares and be in agreement about any decision covering a property this can cause issues in some relationships while tenancy by the entirety protects the property from claims against one spouse it does not protect it from all claims if both tenants are responsible for a given debt the creditor can still make a claim against the property allows one married partner to inherit the property without probate if their partner dies protects the property from any claims against the deceased partner s estate prevents either partner from placing liens or selling the shared property property is protected from creditors for debt only owed by one partner limited to some states and may be limited to some types of property 