In a joint tenancy situation, if one spouse dies and leaves all assets to a child from a previous marriage, what happens to the property?

In a joint tenancy arrangement, when one owner dies, the remaining owners automatically inherit the deceased owner's share of the property due to the right of survivorship. This means that if one spouse in a joint tenancy passes away, the surviving spouse retains full ownership of the property regardless of what the deceased spouse's will states or who the deceased left assets to. Therefore, in the scenario presented, the surviving spouse would retain ownership of the property, and the child, despite being named in the will, would not inherit anything from the joint tenancy property itself.

Joint tenancy is structured to work independently of individual wills because it prioritizes the rights of surviving joint tenants. While a will can dictate how personal assets are distributed, it cannot alter the automatic transfer of property rights that occurs in joint tenancy situations. That’s why the correct understanding of joint tenancy emphasizes that the surviving spouse's ownership prevails in this context, overriding any directives in the deceased spouse’s will concerning joint tenancy property.