You may have seen JTWROS written after your name on your car title, but what does it mean? JTWROS means Joint Tenants With Rights of Survivorship. But what does that mean?
When two or more people own property such as a car together, they can own it in a couple of ways. One way is as tenants in common, the other is joint tenants with rights of survivorship.
The difference becomes important when one of the co-owners dies.
Tenants in Common
If a person co-owns property as a tenant in common, and then dies, then his heirs get his share of the property. So if you co-own a car with your boyfriend, and your boyfriend dies, then you might be a co-owner of the car with his parents or his kids.
Joint Tenants With Rights of Survivorship
If on the other hand, a person co-owns property as a JTWROS, and then dies, then the other co-owner(s) receive the property.
This is why people use JTWROS as a way to avoid probate.
It is also useful for unmarried couples to own property like this together. If something happens to one of them, then the other gets the property. It does not matter who the heirs are, or who is in the decedent’s will. The property passes outside of probate.
When is JTWROS Not a Good Idea?
It is not a good idea when you want the property to pass to the dying co-owner’s heirs. For instance, if a parent has four children, and each of the four kids have children of their own. The parent might want each of their kids’ share of the property to pass on to their own children.
Conclusion
Holding property as Joint Tenants With Rights of Survivorship can be a good idea. However, you have to know what it means in order to know if you really want to own property as JTWROS.
By Steve Harton