how joint works
joint can pertain to accounts or ownership in real property such as joint owned property this is property owned by two or more people who may be business partners spouses family members or friends if land a home or a business is owned jointly each participating party shares in both the risks and rewards joint can also refer to liability joint liability exists in situations where two or more people share the burden of a debt for example if a husband and wife have joint liability for a tax debt each is responsible for the entire amount of the debt there may be ways to request relief from tax interest and penalty liabilities resulting from a joint tax return consult with a tax attorney or other certified professional for details 1types of joint arrangementsjoint as a term can be applied to a wide variety of financial situations including the following the fdic estimates that up to one third of bank deposit accounts are joint accounts 2 with joint accounts two or more parties share a single account the law and financial institutions typically consider both parties to be equal owners regardless of who started the account or contributed more money joint accounts may benefit from more than the typical 250 000 insurance from the fdic as each co owner of a joint account is insured up to 250 000 if two people are qualified co owners on a joint account the account s contents could be insured for up to 500 000 3co owners can spend or transfer funds to other accounts without the consent of the other account holder most joint accounts have rights of survivorship which means that if one account holder dies the other will automatically retain rights to the account funds 4joint tenancy refers to when two or more parties share equal shares of ownership in property with the same deed at the same time this type of holding title is most common between spouses and among family members because rights of survivorship are involved similar to joint accounts 5joint tenancy differs from a tenancy in common with tenancy in common tenants may have different shares of ownership that could be obtained at different times joint and survivor annuities are insurance products that continue regular payments as long as one of the annuitants is alive a joint and survivor annuity must have two or more annuitants married couples may choose a joint annuity to guarantee that in the case of death the surviving spouse receives regular income for life 6in a joint venture two unaffiliated companies contribute financial and physical assets and personnel to a new company although joint ventures are generally considered partnerships they can take on any legal structure joint ventures can help qualifying businesses typically in a mentor prot g relationship compete for set aside government contracts reserved for small businesses 7corporations partnerships limited liability companies llcs and other business entities can all be involved in joint ventures joint venture agreements take into account the number of parties involved the joint venture s operation scope the terms of each party s role and contribution the ownership split and how the joint ventures will be administered managed and staffed frequently asked questions faqs 