Tenancy in common

If a property is held in a tenancy in common, a deceased tenant in common's rights in the property are passed along to his or her chosen heirs. State law rules often provide for specific words or phrases that must be used to create a tenancy in common, such as: ". . . to be held as tenants in common, not as joint tenants".

A tenancy in common is to be contrasted to a joint tenancy, where the rights of a deceased joint tenant pass to the surviving joint tenants.