Forms of ownership: severalty, concurrent ownership, and ownership by entities

Who holds title?

Ownership in severalty means one owner holds title. That owner can be an individual or a legal entity, such as a corporation or limited liability company. Severalty describes the number of title holders, not the number of people investing in an entity.

Concurrent ownership means multiple owners hold interests in the same property. Tenants in common hold undivided interests: each has a right to possess the whole, although ownership percentages may differ. A sixty percent interest is not title to a particular sixty percent of the land. A tenant in common can generally convey that owner's interest, and at death it passes through the owner's estate rather than by an inherent right of survivorship. Partition can end the shared ownership through physical division or a sale and division of proceeds.

Survivorship and marital ownership

Traditional joint tenancy combines equal interests with a right of survivorship. Its classic four unities are time, title, interest, and possession. A surviving joint tenant takes a deceased joint tenant's interest by survivorship rather than under the deceased owner's will. A lifetime conveyance can sever the joint tenancy as to the transferred interest. Tenancy by the entirety, where recognized, is a marital ownership form with survivorship and restrictions on unilateral transfer. Creation and severance requirements vary by jurisdiction; apply the form and facts stated in the question.

Texas illustrates why joint ownership alone is insufficient: Estates Code section 111.001 authorizes written survivorship agreements and forbids inferring them merely from joint ownership. Section 111.002 assigns spouses' community property survivorship agreements to a separate chapter. Community property and survivorship are distinct concepts. Under Texas Family Code sections 3.001 and 3.002, property acquired during marriage is community property unless separate; property owned before marriage and property acquired by gift or inheritance are separate.

Entities and trusts

A corporation or limited liability company may own real estate in its own name. Shareholders or members own interests in the entity, not direct fractional title to each building. Likewise, partnership property belongs to the partnership, rather than being each partner's individually transferable parcel interest. Authority to sign a deed comes from the entity's governing rules and authorization. In a trust, the trustee holds legal title and administers property for beneficiaries, who hold beneficial interests.

For exam questions, identify the title holder, distinguish an undivided share from a physical segment, and ask whether the facts establish survivorship.