Zeligs v. Janes: Severing Joint Tenancy

Joint tenancy is a common form of ownership for family holdings and is often used for estate planning purposes. The main benefit of a joint tenancy is the right of survivorship which provides that when one joint tenant dies, his or her interest in the property passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant(s). A recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal gives a good reminder that a joint tenant may, through his or her unilateral actions, unintentionally sever a joint tenancy, thereby converting ownership into a tenancy in common and extinguishing the right of survivorship.

The decision in Zeligs v. Janes, 2016 BCCA 280 (CanLII) considered whether funds withdrawn from a joint bank account by one joint tenant and then transferred to herself for her own use would sever a joint tenancy. In this case, Dorothy Burnett owned a property (the "Knox Road Property") jointly with her daughter, Diana Janes. Janes held a power of attorney for her mother and, in