Making a deed joint tenants with rights of survivorship

When a deed is joint tenants with rights of survivorship and one of the owners dies, his or her share in the property automatically goes to the survivors without probate being required.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Angela, you're on News 96.5. Go ahead.

Angela: Hi, good morning. My father and I, we own a property. When he put my name on the property, it was an inheritance. At the time, the lawyer that set up the deed for us, they put that it was just me and his name on it.

Attorney Tom Olsen: If I looked at that deed and I saw both your names, after both your names is the magic words there, joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Angela, that's the key to avoiding probate on this piece of property, is look at the deed after your names, make sure the words joint tenants rights of survivorship are there. If no words are after your names or if the words tenants in common are after you names, then you will want to do a new deed for you, to be signed by you and your father to make you joint tenants rights of survivorship so that when he passes away, it will automatically go to you. No headaches, no hassles, no probate.