Right of Survivorship

When purchasing a home with another person, generally the deed will state that the parties own the property with “right of survivorship”. The right of survivorship is an attribute of several types of joint ownership of property, most notably joint tenancy and tenancy in common. When jointly owned property includes a right of survivorship, the surviving owner automatically absorbs a dying owner’s share of the property. (www.law.cornell.edu) While no one likes to talk about death, when someone dies, the family is left with a lot of things to do. There are arrangements to make, legal paperwork to be done and a lot of questions. So, if you own a property with someone as “right of survivorship” and they pass, what do you do. In the state of Florida, this process is actually pretty easy. All you have to do is supply the clerk of court in your county with a copy of an original death certificate. When this is filed, the deceased party is removed from the deed and the tax record. There is not anything else that you must do! Hopefully this knowledge, should you ever find yourself in this unfortunate situation, will alleviate some stress when it comes to changing your property deed.