Take Title To Florida Real Estate: Joint Ownership As Tenants In Common

By: Ned Hale, Attorney/Owner at Hale Law Group, P.A., Fort Myers, FL Board Certified in Real Estate by the Florida Bar

Advantages:

 -Easy. No documents to prepare. This is the “default” ownership method when two or more people jointly own real estate.

 -Ownership shares can be unequal—i.e., one person can own, say, 60% and the other 40% of the property. And they can take title by different deeds.

 -All owners, regardless of ownership share, have the right to occupy the entire property (called “undivided ownership”).

 -If one owner pays more than his or her share of real estate taxes or maintenance, he or she is entitled to a reimbursement from the other owners.

 -Each owner’s ownership share passes according to his or her will, not to the other owners (i.e., no right of survivorship).

  Disadvantages:

  -No asset protection—creditors can seize an owner’s interest in a property unless it is homesteaded.

 -Majority rule does not apply. One holdout tenant can stop a sale of the entire property or prevent improvements to the property, unless the other tenants file an expensive and time consuming partition lawsuit.