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There are three principle types of ownership involving two or more persons: joint tenancy, tenancy in common, and tenancy by the entirety.
One of the most common types of ownership existing in North Carolina between persons other than husband and wife is the tenancy in common. The cooowners are referred to as "tenants in common". Each tenant in common owns a separate but undivided interest in the land and each has an equal right to possession and use of the land. Keep in mind that, while they may be equal, the interests of tenants in common are not legally required to be equal. One tenant could own a 95 percent undivided interest and another a 5 percent undivided interest. This unequal percentage of ownership is impossible in a joint tencancy or a tenancy by the entirety.
There is no right of survivorship as far as the tenants are concerned under a tenancy in common and the undivided fractional interest of any tenant is freely alienable (transferable by sale or gift), devisable by will, and inheritable.
The joint tenancy form of ownership differs from a tenancy in common in a number of ways. First and foremost, the joint tenancy can include the attribute of "survivorship". In which case, when one joint tenant (with right of survivorship) dies, his or her share automatically goes to the surviving joint tenant or tenants.
One of the major attributes of joint tenancy, however, is the "destructibility" of the survivorship feature by the unilateral actions of one of the joint tenants during his or her lifetime. Any joint tenant has the power during his or her lifetime to destroy the joint tenancy and convert it into a tenancy in common. "... transfer his interest ... by deed...". This transfer severs the joint tenancy and converts it into a tenancy in common. If either dies, the property will not go to the other by survivorship.
Additionally, in joint tenancy all joint tenants must hold equal undivided interests in the property and must receive their interest simultaneously under the same instrument. In a conveyance to two persons as joint tenants with right of survivorship, each must hold a 50% undivided interest in the property.
A very important form of ownership widely used in North Carolina is the tenancy by the entirety. This form of ownership is possible only between a husband and a wife. The incident of survivorship is still retained. Any conveyance to a husband and wife by deed or will creates a tenancy by the entirety, unless it is made clear in the instrument that some other form of ownership is intended.
Where there is a tenancy by the entirety, neither spouse can individually transfer nor encumber the real property or any interest therein so as to affect or defeat the other spouse's right of survivorship in the whole property.
A tenancy by the entirety can be terminated only by one of the following methods: 1) agreement of both husband and wife, 2) valid divorce (which automatically converts the property into a tenancy in common, unless the divorce decree provides some other form of ownership), or 3) death of one or both spouses.