Joint Tenants, Community Property, or Tenants in Common?

Pull out your deed, the one you signed at closing and probably have not looked at since. Somewhere after your names there is a short phrase: as joint tenants, as community property, as community property with right of survivorship, or as tenants in common. Most homeowners cannot say which one is on their deed. Almost none were told what it means.

That phrase is called your vesting, and it quietly answers three enormous questions: who controls the home, what happens when an owner dies, and how much tax your family may pay. Here is what each option really says.

Joint tenancy: the automatic default

Joint tenants own the property equally, and when one owner dies the survivor automatically owns all of it. It is the vesting most couples end up with because it is the checkbox everyone recognizes at closing.

What it does well: avoids probate at the first death. That is the entire list.

What it does not tell you: the survivor's death still lands the home in probate. The first owner to die loses any say over where the home ultimately goes. Married couples give up half of a valuable capital-gains benefit (more on that below). And if both owners die together, the survivorship feature simply fails. We walked through that scenario in If Both Owners Die Together, Who Gets the House?

Community property: the married-couple rules

California is a community property state: property acquired during marriage generally belongs to both spouses equally. Holding title as community property reflects that, and it carries a major tax advantage joint tenancy gives away.

When property passes at death, its cost basis "steps up" to market value, erasing built-in capital gains. Spouses who hold title as community property get a full step-up on the entire property at the first death. Joint tenants get it on only half. On a Valley home bought decades ago, that difference can mean capital-gains tax on hundreds of thousands of dollars of appreciation if the survivor ever sells.

Plain community property has one catch: no automatic survivorship, so each spouse's half passes by will, through probate, unless there is a trust.

Community property with right of survivorship: the hybrid

Since 2001 California has offered married couples a combination: the full double step-up of community property plus automatic survivorship at the first death. For married couples choosing between raw vestings, it beats joint tenancy in almost every case.

But it shares joint tenancy's blind spots: probate still arrives in full at the second death, and the deed says nothing about incapacity, minor children, or what happens if you both are gone.

Tenants in common: separate shares, separate fates

Tenants in common own separate, transferable shares: 50/50, 70/30, any split. There is no survivorship at all: when an owner dies, their share passes through their own estate, which means probate unless they had a trust.

This vesting is common among unmarried partners, siblings who inherited together, and friends who bought property jointly. It offers control over your own share, and a guaranteed court process for whoever inherits it.

The comparison at a glance

• Joint tenancy: no probate at first death · probate at second death · half step-up · survivor controls everything
• Community property: full step-up · probate at every death without a trust
• Community property w/ survivorship: full step-up · no probate at first death · probate at second death
• Tenants in common: full control of your share · probate at every death without a trust

Notice the pattern: every raw vesting eventually leads to probate. The differences are only about when, and how much tax rides along.

The option that is not on the deed menu

A revocable living trust is not a vesting choice at closing. It is a plan that holds the home. Title the property in your trust and you keep the community-property tax treatment where it applies, skip probate at every death, decide exactly who inherits and when, cover incapacity, and keep it all private. It is the reason the vesting comparison, done honestly, ends in the same place for almost every family.

Not sure what your deed says? Find it, read the line after your names, and bring your questions on the 23rd, or send us a copy and we will tell you exactly where you stand.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every family's circumstances are unique. Contact MVP Law Group for a consultation tailored to your situation.