Q: Father added my niece to his deed so she is now co-owner of house. Can he will or bequeath his share of the deed to me?

A: Generally speaking co-owners can each freely transfer their interest in real property. However, if there are survivorship rights already in the deed a Will is ineffective to transfer to someone else (because it will go to the survivor in the deed and not be a part of the deceased person's estate)

If the intent is to make sure certain family members inherit the property, some good planning tools are paring a Revocable Living Trust with a deed into that Trust or setting up an enhanced Life Estate Deed.

While I hope the general information above helps, it is not intended as legal advice for a specific situation nor a substitute for sitting down with an attorney to discuss one's estate plan.

A: It depends on how the co-ownership is designated on the deed.

Title to real property can be held as “tenants in common” (TC) or as “joint tenants with right of survival” (JT). If the deed does not state specifically that two or more titled owners are “tenants in common” then they will be deemed joint tenants.

If title is held as TC, then each owner’s TC interest passes under their estate to their heirs, whether by terms of their will or by intestate succession if there is no will (meaning, it passes to the deceased owner’s he sits at law). Unless a different percentage is stated, TC interests are held in equal shares (e.g., your father and his niece would own exactly 50% of the property).

If title is held as JT, then the deceased owner’s interest is extinguished upon death, and the surviving owner becomes the sole owner of the property. Upon the death of the last surviving JT owner, the property passes to that last owner’s heirs under their estate. Each JT owner owns an undivided equal share, so if the property is sold while both are still living, each would receive half the net proceeds, but if one dies before the property is sold, the other becomes sole owner.

You will have to review the deed to see how the ownership interest is held. Once the niece has been added to the deed, she cannot be removed nor her ownership interest modified without her notarized signature on a new deed making that change. In other words, it is no longer solely up to your father to reverse or change what he has done regarding ownership of the property. However, if his new ownership interest is as TC, he can direct in his will who gets his TC interest when he passes, and he can update or change his will at any time as long as he is competent to do so.