Michigan Real Estate

Hi, I'm Marian Faupel. This is another Free Minute With an Attorney.

When you own real estate, you can own it on your own name with no one else. But if you do own it with someone else, you are either going to own it as a tenant in common or a tenant with joint rights of survivorship.

If you own it as a tenant who has joint rights of survivorship, that means if you die, the other person can just record a death certificate at the Registrar of Deeds office and the property becomes owned by your partner or the other co-tenant.

If you own it as tenants in common on the other hand, you own a separate interest and the other person or persons own a separate interest. If you were to die, your estate would become a co-owner with the other person, which means that they would have to go to the probate court and have that particular interest distributed according to the will of the statute.

This is one of the solutions for same-sex partners who may want to break-up or or may break-up and who will want to be able to move their interest to the people that they want. It's obviously a little hard to sell or lease an interest that is owned with someone else, but it may be a better solution than having the entire interest go to the other person upon your death.

These are estate planning issues, but they also effect us while we are alive. You need to see an attorney about how you are going to own property if you intend to own it with another person or a business.