The Joint Tenancy That Wasn't Quite Severed
Priya and Quinn bought a house in 2010 as "joint tenants with right of survivorship." In 2016, Priya executed a will leaving "all my interest in the house to my sister Rina." In 2019, Priya signed a quitclaim deed transferring her interest in the house "to myself and my brother Sam as joint tenants." The deed was delivered to Sam and recorded. In 2021, Quinn mortgaged the house without Priya's consent. Priya died in 2023. Rina claims the house under the will; Sam claims a half interest under the 2019 deed; Quinn claims the whole by survivorship. The jurisdiction presumes a tenancy in common unless survivorship is expressly stated, and treats a unilateral conveyance by one joint tenant as a severance.
1. Did Priya's 2016 will sever the joint tenancy, and what effect did the 2019 quitclaim deed have?
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Will. A will does not sever a joint tenancy because it speaks only at death and conveys nothing during life. When Priya died, the survivorship feature operated first, passing her interest to Quinn. Rina takes nothing under the will as to the house. The will is ineffective to defeat survivorship.
2019 deed. A joint tenant may unilaterally convey her interest, and that conveyance severs the joint tenancy as to that share. Priya's deed to "myself and Sam as joint tenants" is a self-conveyance plus a transfer of a half interest to Sam. The effect: Priya retained a half interest and Sam received a half interest, held between them as joint tenants (or, if the jurisdiction requires unity of title and the deed fails to create survivorship, as tenants in common - the express survivorship language controls here). Crucially, the original Priya–Quinn joint tenancy was destroyed as to Priya's half. Quinn and Priya (and later Sam) now hold as tenants in common as between the two halves.
Result after Priya's death. Priya's half passes by her will to Rina (or by intestacy if the will fails), not to Quinn. Quinn keeps his original half. Sam keeps his half under the 2019 deed. Survivorship no longer operates between Priya and Quinn.
2. How does Quinn's 2021 mortgage affect the analysis, and who owns what after Priya's death?
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Mortgage as severance. A mortgage by one co-tenant of his undivided share does not, in most jurisdictions, sever a joint tenancy because it is a lien, not a conveyance; but in title-theory jurisdictions a mortgage transfers title and can sever. Assuming a lien-theory jurisdiction, Quinn's mortgage encumbered only his half and did not destroy any survivorship between Quinn and Sam (if one existed). If the jurisdiction is title-theory, the mortgage severed the Quinn–Sam joint tenancy and converted it to a tenancy in common.
Ownership after Priya's death. Priya's half: devised to Rina by will (subject to any elective share or creditor claims). Sam's half: retained under the 2019 deed. Quinn's half: retained, subject to the bank's mortgage lien. If the Quinn–Sam joint tenancy survived (lien theory), Quinn's death would pass his half to Sam by survivorship, but that has not happened yet.
Practical answer. Rina owns Priya's half; Sam owns his half; Quinn owns his half subject to the mortgage. No one takes the whole by survivorship. The exam traps are (1) treating a will as a severance, (2) ignoring that a self-conveyance can sever, and (3) forgetting that a mortgage may or may not sever depending on the jurisdiction's theory of mortgages.