Rembe v. Stewart

HARRIS, Justice.

This appeal invites us, on public policy grounds, to change a longstanding rule concerning property held in joint tenancy. We decline in the belief that any such change should be by statute.

The general rule that a surviving joint tenant takes real property free of the debts of the deceased joint tenant appears to be well-settled, at least in most jurisdictions. See 48A C.J.S. Joint Tenancy § 3 (1981) (“[0]n the death of a joint tenant the surviv- or or survivors take the whole estate, free from the claims of the heirs or creditors of the deceased cotenant.”); 20 Am.Jur.2d…