John and Mary own a vacation property as joint tenants. They had a falling out and John intends to sever the joint tenancy to ensure his half passes to his children, not Mary. Which of the following actions is generally sufficient to sever the joint tenancy?

Question: John and Mary own a vacation property as joint tenants. They had a falling out and John intends to sever the joint tenancy to ensure his half passes to his children, not Mary. Which of the following actions is generally sufficient to sever the joint tenancy?

Answer options: ✅ Unilaterally conveying his interest in the property to himself as a tenant in common.

• Updating his will to explicitly state that his share of the property should go to his children.
• Verbally informing Mary that he no longer wishes to own the property jointly.
• Ceasing to pay his share of the property taxes and maintenance costs.

Correct answer: Unilaterally conveying his interest in the property to himself as a tenant in common.

Explanation: Severing a joint tenancy requires an act that destroys one of the four unities (possession, interest, title, time) and converts it into a tenancy in common. A common method is for one joint tenant to unilaterally transfer their interest to themselves (or a third party) as a tenant in common, which effectively notifies the other parties of the change in ownership structure and terminates the right of survivorship for that interest.