Can You Tell Me Who Owns What from this Deed?

[welkin]

Jurisdiction

New Jersey

I am trying to figure out who owns what shares (%) of a property where there are three grantees in a very ambiguously written deed (IMO). I don't have the experience to understand the grantee statement and what it means. I can't figure out if the three grantees are Tenants in Common or Joint Tenants. I know that two of the grantees are husband and wife so that would be a Joint Tenancy with a right to survivorship or a Tenancy by the Entirety.

All the deed states and, I will use fictitious names:

Bob Smith and Mary Smith, husband and wife and Steve Kemp, a married man referred to as the Grantee.

Do each of the three grantees own an undivided share of the property or does husband and wife own 50% and Kemp own 50%? Or something else. The Deed is silent on any other verbiage about percentages or even what type of tenancy this is.

 

[zddoodah]

First, I agree that this is ambiguous.

Second, some context would be helpful. Are you any of the three people mentioned? If not, what is your connection to the situation?

Third, was/is the grantor related to any (or all) of the grantees?

Without more information, my guess is that each grantee has an undivided 1/3 interest as tenants in common (TIC being the default when nothing to the contrary is specified).

 

[welkin]

First, I agree that this is ambiguous.

Second, some context would be helpful. Are you any of the three people mentioned? If not, what is your connection to the situation?

Third, was/is the grantor related to any (or all) of the grantees?

Without more information, my guess is that each grantee has an undivided 1/3 interest as tenants in common (TIC being the default when nothing to the contrary is specified).

My neighbor died last April. The house was sold by the Executor of the estate (her son and Grantor) to a married couple with no relations to the neighbor or the Executor or any family member. Of that, I am sure. I knew my neighbor for 46 years.

I looked up the Deed on the county Registrar's website and found that there was a third-party Grantee that, to my knowledge, is not related to the husband or wife that bought the property.

Your guess was my guess but that really seemed odd to me that a right of survivorship would exist between husband and wife (Joint Tenancy or Tenancy By The Entity), and nothing said about the unrelated third-party except that he is a married man. The words a married man was handwritten in after his name. I take that to indicate that the third-party's wife has a right to survivorship of his share if this is a tenant in common Deed. It looks like the Deed is both. I have read many deeds over the years but have never come across this before. There are no other documents recorded relating to the Deed as to interests.

Is that now as clear as mud?

I just found this and may have answered my own question.

Where a deed grants ownership to three persons, two of whom are husband and wife, the husband and wife take one half, and the other person takes the other half. Petrone v. Petrone, No. A-5974-08T1, at *21-22 (N.J. Super. Oct. 28, 2013).

But in that case, everyone is related.

 

[zddoodah]

Your guess was my guess but that really seemed odd to me that a right of survivorship would exist between husband and wife (Joint Tenancy or Tenancy By The Entity), and nothing said about the unrelated third-party except that he is a married man.

Most states have default rules (whether by statute or case law) when deeds are silent or ambiguous.

I think the easiest and most practical construction would be a TIC. When one of the two spouse owners dies, the surviving spouse will presumably inherit the deceased spouse's interest and become a 2/3 owner. However, since I'm not admitted in NJ, I can only really guess. If I were the non-spouse joint owner, I'd probably spend a few hundred bucks to have a local attorney review the deed and advise him what he actually has.

 

[welkin]

Most states have default rules (whether by statute or case law) when deeds are silent or ambiguous.

I think the easiest and most practical construction would be a TIC. When one of the two spouse owners dies, the surviving spouse will presumably inherit the deceased spouse's interest and become a 2/3 owner. However, since I'm not admitted in NJ, I can only really guess. If I were the non-spouse joint owner, I'd probably spend a few hundred bucks to have a local attorney review the deed and advise him what he actually has.

Thank you for your response.

I have now read the case sited above. It is quite long, but the upshot is that in NJ case law, as soon as the names of a married couple are followed by husband and wife, a tenancy by the entirety is created (a joint tenancy with perks) unless the deed says otherwise.

Transfer of real estate to a husband and wife create a tenancy by the entirety unless the deed expresses or has a "tenor" manifestly indicating otherwise. N.J.S.A. 46:3-17.3.

When a third-party is a grantee along with the tenancy by the entirety, the deed becomes Tenancy in Common where the husband and wife together own 50% and the third-party owns 50%. Again, unless the deed says otherwise. Since this Deed has no tenor otherwise, my neighbor (husband and wife) only own half their property. I don't think they know that.

So, now I find myself in a dilemma because of my nosey curiosity.