Hello,

Currently, a property owned by my family in the State of Florida is held as follows:

John Smith, a single man, Robert Smith, a single man and Peter Smith and Jane
Smith, husband and wife, as joint tenananst with right of survivorship.

Peter Smith, the father of John and Robert, passed away a couple of years ago. Robert would like to quitclaim the property (as Grantor) to his brother, John and his mother, Jane as joint tenants with right of survivorship.

Is he the only one that needs to sign the deed as Grantor. In other words, the deed would state that: Robert as Grantor quitclaims the property to John Smith and Jane Smith as tenants with right of survivorship.

Robert is giving only his interest in the property to the other 2 tenants. Alternatively, all three tenants could sign the quitclaim deed to John and Jane, but I am afraid whether this breaks the right of survivorship.

Also, does an Affidavit of death of a Joint Tenants (or Continuous Marriage) need to be filed to account for the death of Peter, a couple of years ago?

Thanks

kima02

Interesting situation. I assume that John and Robert each own 25% and Jane owns 50% of the property. If Robert transfers his 25% share to John and Jane, then Jane will own 62.5% and John will own 37.5%. If Jane dies before John then John will own 50%. The balance of Jane's 50% interest will become part of her estate and her heirs will own that portion. If John dies before Jane then Jane will own 75%. John's remaining 25% will become part of his estate and his heirs will own that portion.

If this is what you want to happen then only Robert should sign the quit claim deed. However, if you want a different result then all of the parties should sign a new deed that specifies how the property will be owned after the deaths of the parties.

This is fairly complex. I strongly recommend that your family bring this to an attorney to have it spelled out specifically.

Lisa,

Thank you for your answer. I understand the ownership interest in the property by each tenant since Jane now owns the 25% interest of Peter's interest.

But, since the original deed had all four tenants with right of survivorship, does it hold that the resulting ownership also has right of survivorship. In other words, after Robert quitclaims the property to the other 2 tenants, John will have 37.5% and Jane 62.5%. If John dies, Jane will own the property. If Jane dies, John will own it 100%.

This is how we want the property to be distributed, but it all depends if the right of survivorship in the original deed prevails after Robert quitclaims the property to the other 2 tenants.

Wait... did the original deed say that all four owned it as JTWROS? Or only the husband and wife as JTWROS?

If all four owned as JTWROS then the ROS will survive. But to be sure, Robert should transfer to John and Jane as JTWROS. Then you should add a statement in the deed description that it is the intention of the parties that John will own 37.5% and Jane will own 62.5%, as JTWROS.

I'm basing my answer on the information you've provided here. But if you want to be safe you really should have an attorney or title company look at the previous deeds and then prepare and file the new deed. It shouldn't be expensive and you'll know that it was done right.

Thank you for your answer. It certainly makes sense.

I read this a little differently, I see THREE shares. With John and Robert each having a 1/3rd share and Peter and Jane the other third. With Peter's death, Jane now owns 1/3rd solely. In the case of the death of either John, Robert or Jane, their estate would get that 1/3. If Robert deeds his 1/3rd to John and Jane as JTWROS then John and Jane would each have a half share that would go to the survivor outside their estate.

But in that case all three would need to sign as grantors. Robert can, however, deed his 1/3rd share to John and Jane equally, but there would be no ROS

Scott, unless the deed specifies otherwise, if a deed lists 4 owners then they are presumed to own equal shares. Just because Peter and Jane were married doesn't mean that they owned as one entity. There were 4 owners so each owned 25%.