California Real Estate Practice Exam

A brother and sister own a property as joint tenants. The sister marries and then deeds one-half of her interest to her new husband. Which of the following is a true statement?

1. All three are now joint tenants

2. Brother holds in severalty, sister and husband hold as community property

3. Brother is joint tenant, sister and husband hold title as community property

4. The joint tenancy is totally destroyed

The correct answer is: All three are now joint tenants

When one joint tenant conveys their interest in the property to a third party, such as when the sister deeds her half interest to her new husband, the nature of the ownership relationship changes. In this case, the joint tenancy that existed between the brother and sister is disrupted because joint tenancy requires the four unities: unity of time, title, interest, and possession. When the sister transferred her interest to her husband, she severed the joint tenancy with her brother. As a result, the sister and her husband now hold their interest as tenants in common, while the brother retains his interest in the property. This means that all three parties (the brother, the sister, and her husband) cannot hold as joint tenants collectively, since the sister's action has altered the ownership structure. Therefore, the true statement accurately reflects the situation where the original joint tenancy is destroyed due to the transfer, moving the sister and husband into a different ownership structure, most likely as community property, while the brother remains in his sole ownership. Thus, option A is not accurate because while it says all three are now joint tenants, that is not the case since the joint tenancy was destroyed with the transfer. The correct choice would indicate that the original relationship has changed fundamentally