Two ways to hold title to BC real estate, with very different consequences when one owner dies. A plain-language explainer for couples, families, and business partners.
Most BC homeowners hold title with someone else — a spouse, an adult child, a business partner, a family trust. The Land Title Office in BC will register that ownership in one of two ways: as joint tenants with right of survivorship or as tenants in common. Either is valid, but the choice has real consequences when one of the owners dies.
This is a decision that gets made at closing — sometimes without much discussion — and that quietly governs what happens to the property decades later. Worth understanding before you sign.
Joint tenancy means the surviving owner automatically takes the deceased owner’s share. Title moves to the survivor without going through the deceased’s estate. No probate is required for that share. The will of the deceased has no effect on the joint-tenancy property.
Tenancy in common means each owner has a defined fractional share — 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, or any other split. When one owner dies, their share passes through their estate (under the will, or under WESA if there is no will), not to the other owner. Probate is generally required.
Both forms exist on title. Both can be used for any combination of owners. Switching between them later is possible but requires a transfer at the Land Title Office, and may have Property Transfer Tax and tax consequences.
Joint tenancy is the default for most spouses or long-term partners holding a principal residence. The reasoning is simple: most couples want the surviving spouse to keep the home automatically, without delay, without probate, and without the administrative cost of an estate. Joint tenancy delivers exactly that.
It also tends to be the right choice when:
The right-of-survivorship feature is the headline benefit of joint tenancy, but it is also the headline risk: it cuts the will out of the picture for that property. If your will says “my house goes to my children” but the title is held in joint tenancy with your spouse, the spouse takes the property regardless of what the will says. The will only governs property that passes through your estate, and joint-tenancy property does not.
Tenancy in common usually makes sense in three common situations:
Blended families. A spouse who has children from a previous relationship often wants their share of the home to end up with those children rather than passing automatically to the surviving spouse. Tenancy in common (typically 50/50) lets each spouse direct their share through their will — usually with provisions giving the surviving spouse the right to live in the home for life, with the property then passing to the deceased spouse’s children on the survivor’s death.
Unequal contributions. When two people are buying together but one is contributing a much larger down payment, tenancy in common with proportional shares (e.g., 70/30) reflects the actual ownership. On a sale, each owner gets their share of the proceeds.
Business partners or co-investors. Two friends, siblings, or business partners buying an investment property together usually want defined shares — both for clarity during ownership and for clean division on a sale or on a death. Tenancy in common is almost always the right form for non-romantic co-ownership.
The form of co-ownership can be changed during the lifetime of the owners. Switching from joint tenancy to tenancy in common (a “severance” of the joint tenancy) can be done unilaterally by one owner — even without the other’s consent — by registering a Form A transfer. Switching from tenancy in common to joint tenancy requires both owners to agree and to register a Form A transfer.
Both directions can have Property Transfer Tax implications, even though no money changes hands. The PTT is calculated on the fair market value of the interest being transferred. There is a related-individual transfer exemption for transfers between spouses, but the rules are narrow and we confirm qualification on every file.
Tax considerations also matter. Adding a new joint tenant — for example, putting an adult child on title — is a deemed disposition for federal income-tax purposes and can trigger capital gains tax (and a partial loss of the principal residence exemption), even if no money changes hands. Talk to your accountant before adding anyone to title.
The mechanics differ sharply.
Joint tenancy on death. The survivor signs an Affidavit of Survivorship and registers a copy of the death certificate at the Land Title Office. Title transfers automatically to the survivor. No probate is required for the deceased’s share. Property Transfer Tax does not apply on the change of registration. The whole process is administrative and inexpensive.
Tenancy in common on death. The deceased’s share passes through the estate. The executor obtains a Grant of Probate (or, where no will exists, a Grant of Administration). Once probate is granted, the executor registers the transfer of the deceased’s share to the beneficiaries named in the will. Property Transfer Tax usually does not apply on a transfer under a will (a specific exemption applies). Probate fees do apply on the gross value of the deceased’s share — currently approximately 1.4% of value above $50,000.
For couples without children or with adult children from the same relationship, the tenancy-in-common path is usually slower, more expensive, and more administrative than the joint tenancy path. For blended families, the slower path is the whole point — it lets each spouse’s share go where they want it, rather than where the survivorship rule would direct it.
We see this regularly: a parent puts an adult child on title in joint tenancy, often with the goal of “avoiding probate” on the parent’s death. The reasoning is that on the parent’s death, the home will pass to the child automatically, without probate, and probate fees will be saved.
The execution often goes badly.
First, adding the child to title is a deemed disposition for federal income tax. If the property is the parent’s principal residence, the principal residence exemption may shelter the gain — but only if the property qualifies as the parent’s principal residence and the share added to the child has not been gifted to a non-dependent. The rules are more complicated than they look.
Second, the property is now exposed to the child’s creditors. If the child gets sued, divorced, or goes bankrupt, the child’s share of the property is at risk. Some BC families have lost a parent’s home to a child’s marital dispute or business failure.
Third, the child does not always inherit. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that a transfer of property from a parent to an adult child is presumed to be held in trust for the parent’s estate, not as a gift to the child. The presumption can be rebutted, but litigation between siblings over what the parent intended is a recognised risk.
If probate avoidance is the goal, talk to us and your accountant about the alternatives — sometimes a properly drafted will, a separate trust, or a beneficiary designation on a registered account does the job better than a joint-tenancy registration.
On every BC purchase or transfer we close, we ask the owners how they want to take title. For most spouses on a principal residence, joint tenancy is the right answer. For blended families, business partners, or unequal contributors, tenancy in common usually fits better. Where the answer is unclear, we walk through the consequences with you before registering.
If you already own a property and the registration form does not match what you intended, we can help. The mechanics are straightforward; the considerations behind the change matter.
Contact us if you want to talk through the decision on a specific file. And if you are buying with someone for the first time, this is one of the questions worth settling at closing rather than later.
Written by Lime Law Corporation. This article is general information about BC law as of May 6, 2026. It is not legal advice. If you have a specific matter, contact us — and please do not rely on a blog post in place of advice on your file.
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