Sample Questions #4

1. In 1991, Roy Martin and his wife, Alice; their son, Hiram; and Hiram’s wife, Myrna, acquired title to a 240 acre farm.  The deed ran to Roy Martin and Alice Martin, the father and mother, as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, and to Hiram Martin and Myrna Martin, the son and his wife, as joint tenants with the right of survivorship.  Alice Martin died in 1996, Roy Martin married Agnes Martin.  By his will Roy Martin bequeathed and devised his entire estate to Agnes Martin.  When Roy Martin died in 2001, Hiram and Myrna Martin assumed complete control of the farm.  State the interest in the farm, if any, of Agnes, Hiram, and Myrna Martin on the death of Roy Martin. Please discuss.

 2. In her will, Teressa granted a life estate to Amos in certain real estate with the remainder to Brenda and Clive in joint tenancy.  All the rest of Teressa’s estate was left to Hillman College.  While going to Teressa’s funeral, the car in which Amos, Brenda, and Clive were driving was wrecked.  Brenda was killed, Clive died a few minutes later, and Amos died on his way to the hospital.  Who is entitled to the real estate in question?  Please discuss.

3. At the time of his marriage to Ann, Robert owned several parcels of real estate in joint tenancy with his brother, Sam.  During his marriage, Robert purchased a house and put the title in his name and his wife’s name as joint tenants, not as tenants in common.  Robert died; within a month of his death, Smith obtained a judgment against Robert’s estate.  What are the relative rights of Sam, Smith and Ann?  Please discuss.

ANSWERS:

Question 1. 

The crucial point in answering this question is to decide whether a single joint tenancy which included all four people or a joint tenancy involving the mother and father and a second joint tenancy involving the son and his wife were created.  

The description of the joint tenancy gives us the answer:  to Roy Martin and Alice Martin, the father and mother, as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, and to Hiram Martin and Myrna Martin, the son and his wife, as joint tenants with the right of survivorship.

The language specifically describes a joint tenancy involving Roy and Alice and a second joint tenancy involving Hiram and Myrna. 

When Alice Martin died, Roy Martin inherited her share of the property that he held in joint tenancy with her.  He now owned an undivided half of the property by himself.  His son and his wife owned the other half as joint tenants.  When Roy died, he had the right to pass onto to Agnes, his interest in the property.  Agnes now owns half of the property.

Question 2. 

The key to answering this question is to analyze the estate and future interest that Teresa created. 

The facts tell us that Teresa gave a life estate to Amos with the remainder to Brenda and Clive as joint tenants. 

The remainder is a vested remainder since we know that Brenda and Clive were given the  future interest,  no one else may be included in the class with them, and there are no conditions.  The remainder was given to Brenda and Clive in joint tenancy.  Since this is a vested remainder, the property will not go back to Teresa.  This should tell us that the property will be inherited by Brenda or Clive or Brenda and Clive or their heirs. 

When Brenda died, Clive inherited all of her interest in the real property (because he and Brenda owned the property as joint tenants).  At this point, the conveyance of the property from Teresa became:   A life estate to Amos with the remainder to Clive. 

When Clive died, the conveyance now became:  A life estate to Amos with the remainder to Clive’s estate. 

When Amos died, the property will now be distributed to Clive’s heirs.

Several students mentioned the simultaneous death act in their answers.  This is a law or legal concept which is used when joint tenancy holders die at the same time or nearly at the same time and it is difficult to determine who died first.  As was shown in this particular homework assignment, the order in which Brenda and Clive died made a huge difference in who would ultimately receive the estate. 

In cases where it is not clear which joint tenancy holder died first, the simultaneous death act assumes that both died at the same time.  In the homework assignment, it was clearly stated that Brenda died first and then Clive died.

Question 3. 

Robert owned property with his brother Sam as joint tenants.  He also owned property with his wife Ann as joint tenants.  Upon Robert’s death, Sam became the sole owner of the property he previously owned with Robert.  Ann also became the sole owner of the property she previously owned with Robert. 

As for Smith, he was Robert’s creditor, but he did not become a creditor until after Robert’s death and after the properties Robert held in joint tenancy with his brother and his wife had already been consolidated.  As a result, the properties currently held solely by Sam and Ann are beyond Smith’s reach.