The settlement of an estate typically focuses on the protection and collection of estate assets. These assets may include bank accounts, retirement funds and other financial holdings. However, the major asset in most estates is an interest in real estate. Real estate may be in the form of a single family home, a multi-family residential building, commercial property or even a condominium unit. While a cooperative apartment is not real property, since the interest is in the cooperative corporation, its value and ownership are generally equivalent to real estate holdings.
The decedent’s interest in real property is determined by the ownership document existing at the time of death. This is typically a deed. A deed can show different types of ownership interests. The decedent may own a property as a joint tenant with a right of survivorship or he may just own the property in his name alone.
Problems arise when an estate property is held in the name of a number of owners as tenants in common. In such a case, the decedent’s interest passes to his beneficiaries who then own the property along with the other owners, all as tenants in common.