Note: BCP Real Estate is not a law firm and its employees/owners are not acting as your attorneys. The information contained on this website is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.
“Tenancy in common” is the legal name for the kind of co-ownership most heir property falls under. The word “tenancy” here just means a form of ownership; it has nothing to do with renting. Understanding it explains a lot about why inherited property works the way it does.
In a tenancy in common, two or more people each own an undivided interest in the same property. Each co-owner, sometimes called a co-tenant, holds their own share, the shares don’t have to be equal, and each owner can generally sell, give away, or pass on their interest independently. When several heirs inherit a property without a will, they typically become tenants in common automatically, each holding a fractional share of the whole.
A key feature of tenancy in common is what happens when an owner dies: their share passes to their own heirs or beneficiaries, not automatically to the other co-owners. This is what causes heir property to multiply over generations. Each time a co-tenant dies, their piece can split among more people, which is how a single property ends up owned by a sprawling group of relatives over time.
This is different from a “joint tenancy with right of survivorship,” where a deceased owner’s share automatically goes to the surviving co-owners. That arrangement has to be set up deliberately and is less common in inherited family property. Knowing which one applies matters, because it determines who actually owns the property now. In most heir situations, it’s tenancy in common, which is exactly why each owner controls their own share and can act on it without the others.
A couple of quick questions:
Do all tenants in common own equal shares? Not necessarily. Shares can be unequal depending on how the property was inherited or acquired. What they share is undivided ownership of the whole property.
If a co-owner dies, do I get their share? In a tenancy in common, no. Their share passes to their own heirs, not to the other co-owners. That’s a major reason heir property keeps splitting over generations.
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