§ 2. Estate in common preferred to joint tenancy; joint tenancy with unequal shares
(a) Conveyances and devises of lands, whether for years, for life or in fee, made to two or more persons, shall be construed to create estates in common and not in joint tenancy, unless it is expressed in either the grant clause or the habendum clause of the instrument transferring title that the grantees or devisees shall take the lands jointly or as joint tenants or in joint tenancy or to them and the survivors of them. The requirement to specify a tenancy shall not apply to devises or conveyances made in trust or made to spouses or to conveyances in which it manifestly appears from the tenor of the instrument that it was intended to create an estate in joint tenancy. A conveyance to two or more persons as joint tenants, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, or to them and the survivors of them that also includes the grantees heirs and assigns shall not be construed to create an estate in common.
(b)(1) An instrument may create a joint tenancy in which the interests of the joint tenants are equal or unequal.
(2) Unless the instrument creating a joint tenancy contains language indicating a contrary intent:
(A) It shall be presumed that the joint tenants’ interests are equal.
(B) Upon the death of a joint tenant, the deceased joint tenant’s interest shall be allocated among the surviving joint tenants, as joint tenants, in proportion to their respective joint interests at the time of the deceased joint tenant’s death. (Amended 2003, No. 150 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2025, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 26, eff. June 18, 2026.)