Joint Tenancy - Who makes decisions?

[bears]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

3 of us bought a house together (joint tenancy). The third person moved out of the house and it has been hard to communicate with him in an efficient way. Do we need his blessing concerning decisions in the house? For example we have renters. Do I need his signature to end a lease or re-rent the rooms?

For some reason there is very little information around concerning this issue on the internet. They are usually don't mention anything other than the right of survivorship.

I have a secondary question: IF our 3rd owner gets married would the spouse have any title in the house?

Any answer would be appreciated.

 

[anteater]

I'll leave the first part of the question to someone else since I think that I know the answer but am not certain.

I have a secondary question: IF our 3rd owner gets married would the spouse have any title in the house?

Not if the title remains as joint tenants with right of survivorship. (If the 3rd owner were to pass away while married, there might be some question about whether the 3rd owner's share would be subject to the surviving spouse's right to an elective share of the 3rd owner's estate - if it came to the surviving spouse making that election. That would be diving deeper into the MN probate code than I care to do.)

The 3rd owner remains free to convey his/her ownership share to whomever he/she wishes. That would break the joint tenancy between the 3rd owner and the other 2 owners. The third owner would be a tenant in common with respect to the other 2 owners.

 

[bears]

Thanks anteater! What confused me was that our 3rd partner told us a few months ago that at the time when we signed the papers to buy the house the mortgage broker pulled him aside and told him that if he gets married that person would get a share (or something similar). I wouldn't think this is the case either (it just doesn't make sense), but we will talk to a lawyer on Monday and I will ask this question too.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

3 of us bought a house together (joint tenancy). The third person moved out of the house and it has been hard to communicate with him in an efficient way. Do we need his blessing concerning decisions in the house? For example we have renters. Do I need his signature to end a lease or re-rent the rooms?

For some reason there is very little information around concerning this issue on the internet. They are usually don't mention anything other than the right of survivorship.



**A: yes since he is a joint owner.


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I have a secondary question: IF our 3rd owner gets married would the spouse have any title in the house?

Any answer would be appreciated.

**A: no but she may have an interest.

 

[bears]

Q1: I would think so too, at the same time he explicitly told us he will never live in the house, and we should NOT contact him (unless we can refinance the house).

I could be wrong but I believe one of the two types of co-ownership (tenancy in common or joint tenancy) allows for one of the owners to make a decision without the others. For me it sounds strange but I wonder if this is true. There might be certain conditions that need to be met, I don't know.

 

[bears]

Lawyer said that it is fine for us to make decisions without him such as re-renting rooms etc, as long as we keep good records of the finances.

 

[justalayman]

Lawyer said that it is fine for us to make decisions without him such as re-renting rooms etc, as long as we keep good records of the finances.

be sure to forward his share of the rental income to him as well.