Virginia Code 55.1-135: Joint ownership in real and personal property
Any persons may own real or personal property as joint tenants with or without a right of survivorship. When any person causes any real or personal property, or any written memorial of a chose in action, to be titled, registered, or endorsed in the name of two or more persons “jointly,” as “joint tenants,” in a “joint tenancy,” or other similar language, such persons shall own the property in a joint tenancy without survivorship as provided in § 55.1-134. If, in addition, the expression “with survivorship,” or any equivalent language, is employed in such titling, registering, or endorsing, it shall be presumed that such persons are intended to own the property as joint tenants with the right of survivorship as at common law. This section is not applicable to multiple party accounts under Article 2 (§ 6.2-604 et seq.) of Chapter 6 of Title 6.2 or to any other matter specifically governed by another provision of the Code.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-135
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
- Tenancy by the entirety: A type of joint tenancy between husband and wife that is recognized in some States. Neither party can sever the joint tenancy relationship; when a spouse dies, the survivor acquires full title to the property.
If any real or personal property is conveyed or devised to spouses, they shall take and hold such property by moieties in the same manner as if a distinct moiety had been given to each spouse by a separate conveyance, unless language as provided in this section or in § 55.1-136 is used that designates the tenancy as a joint tenancy or a tenancy by the entirety and all requirements for holding property by such tenancy are met.
Code 1919, § 5160; Code 1950, § 55-21; 1999, c. 196, § 55-20.1; 2000, c. 331; 2001, c. 718; 2019, c. 712.