Quick answer
A Georgia deed naming two or more owners creates a tenancy in common with no right of survivorship, unless the deed expressly says joint tenants, joint tenants with survivorship, or words essentially the same. Georgia does not recognise tenancy by the entirety at all, so married couples do not get survivorship automatically.
National study material teaches four or five forms of co-ownership and treats tenancy by the entirety as the normal way married couples take title. Two of those assumptions are wrong in Georgia, and the state supplement knows it.
The default is tenancy in common
O.C.G.A. § 44-6-190 sets the rule. An instrument of title in favour of two or more people is construed to create interests in common without survivorship, unless the instrument expressly refers to the takers as joint tenants, joint tenants and not as tenants in common, joint tenants with survivorship, or as taking jointly with survivorship.
So the deed has to say it. Intention does not do it, the relationship between the owners does not do it, and equal shares do not do it.
What tenancy in common means in practice:
- Each owner has an undivided interest in the whole property, and the shares need not be equal.
- Each owner can sell, mortgage or give away their interest without the others' agreement.
- On death, the interest passes by will or by intestacy to the owner's heirs, not to the surviving co-owners.
Exam trap
A question describes two people buying together, says nothing about the wording of the deed, then asks what happens when one dies. The interest goes to that person's estate. Reaching for survivorship because the buyers were a couple is the error the question is built around.
Creating survivorship on purpose
To get a joint tenancy with survivorship in Georgia, the deed uses the statutory language. Once created, the arrangement carries the survivorship feature: on the death of one owner, the interest passes to the surviving joint tenants outside probate.
Severance works differently from the common law rule most study guides teach. Under § 44-6-190, a joint tenant severs their interest by recording an instrument that transfers all or part of it during their lifetime. There is a sensible exception: if all the joint tenants join in the same recorded transfer, no severance happens, because nobody is being cut out.
Divorce gets its own treatment. Unless a final order of divorce or annulment disposes of the joint tenancy, either party can file an affidavit in the real property records and the interests convert to a tenancy in common. That is a Georgia-specific mechanism and a plausible exam question.
Tenancy by the entirety does not exist here
This is the flat statement worth carrying into the exam. Georgia does not recognise tenancy by the entirety.
In states that do, a married couple takes title as one legal unit, neither spouse can convey alone, and a creditor of one spouse generally cannot reach the property. None of that applies in Georgia. A married couple takes as tenants in common by default, or as joint tenants with survivorship if the deed says so.
| Form | Recognised in Georgia | Survivorship | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenancy in common | Yes, and it is the default | No | Shares may be unequal, interest passes by will |
| Joint tenancy with survivorship | Yes, if expressly created | Yes | Statutory language required in the deed |
| Tenancy by the entirety | No | Not applicable | A Georgia question naming it is testing whether you know |
| Community property | No | Not applicable | Georgia is not a community property state |
Georgia only
Dower and curtesy were abolished in Georgia. If an answer choice offers a surviving spouse a life estate arising automatically by operation of law, that is another state's rule.
Where this meets the rest of the exam
Two connections the exam likes to make.
Liens and creditors. Because a tenant in common owns a separate, transferable interest, a judgment creditor of one co-owner can reach that interest. In an entirety state they often cannot. This is why the form of ownership matters to a title examination.
Partition. Any co-owner who wants out and cannot get agreement can bring a partition action. The court divides the property physically if that is practical, and orders a sale and divides the proceeds if it is not.
The ownership terms in the glossary carry these with the specific trap each one sets, the study guide shows where state laws and rules sit in the outline, and the escheat entry covers what happens when there is nobody left to inherit at all.
Check yourself
1. A Georgia deed conveys a house to "Marcus Bell and Dana Ortiz." Marcus dies. Who takes his interest?
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Answer: B. With no express survivorship language, the deed creates a tenancy in common. Marcus's undivided interest passes through his estate rather than to his co-owner.
2. Which language is required to create survivorship in a Georgia deed?
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Answer: B. O.C.G.A. § 44-6-190 requires the instrument to expressly use the statutory forms of expression or language essentially the same.
3. A married couple in Savannah takes title with no survivorship language in the deed. What form of ownership do they hold?
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Answer: C. Georgia does not recognise tenancy by the entirety and is not a community property state. Without express survivorship language, they are tenants in common.
4. Two people hold a Georgia property as joint tenants with survivorship. One records a deed transferring her interest to her brother. What is the effect?
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Answer: B. Recording a lifetime transfer of a joint tenant's interest severs that interest. The transferee takes as a tenant in common with the remaining owner.
FAQ
Why does Georgia presume tenancy in common?
The common law presumed the opposite, and most states moved away from automatic survivorship because it disinherits an owner's own family without them ever deciding to. Georgia's statute makes survivorship a deliberate choice recorded on the deed.
Can a married couple in Georgia get survivorship?
Yes, by taking title as joint tenants with survivorship using the statutory language. They just do not get it automatically the way an entirety state would give it to them.
What happens to a joint tenancy on divorce?
Unless the divorce decree deals with it, either party can file an affidavit in the real property records and the interests convert to a tenancy in common.
Does a will override survivorship?
No. In a valid joint tenancy with survivorship, the interest passes to the surviving joint tenants at death and never becomes part of the estate, so there is nothing for the will to act on.