My husband and I own stock shares.?

The stock reads "Jane Smith and John Doe JT TEN." In the event of either my husband or myself's death will the survivor be able to take ownership of stock or does word "and" in ownership imply both own stock? In other words do I need to change the wording of the ownership so that there will be no question when the survivor has to take hold of the stock that he or she is legally able to.

Joint Ten Wros means you both own the assets in the account and if one of you dies it passes immediately to the surviving spouse. The broker would handle the change of ownership when you send them the death certificate.

No probate needed.

This type of account can be done with any two people really ... like a grandparent who wants to pass along specific accounts to different grandchildren. Sadly I know this from firsthand experiences :(

The one downside is that if the second person has financial difficulties like a bankruptcy .... if that was a potential situation then making a person a beneficiary would be a better route.

In the event of death, there will be a probate hearing to consider the assets of the deceased. If there is a will then this hearing will be quick and easy... providing the will is not contested. If the will states that all the possessions of the deceased go to you, then the stocks will be yours although you may have provide a copy of the death certificate and the will / probate resolution to convert the stock to wholely your name.

Now... if there is no will, then the probate court will decide how the deceases 'half' of the stock will be split up. If the deceased has children then it is quite possible the probate court will divided the deceases portion evenly among the heirs and yourself. For example, let's say the total value of the stock is $20k and the deceased has 3 kids. With out a will the probate court could decide that the decease half ($10k) should be divided evenly among everyone so that each get $2,500 worth in stock. Then it is up to the stock broker to divided it all up, reissue the shares and of course take a commission from it. This scenario is most likely to happen if the heirs come forward in probate asking for a portion of the decease's estate.

A will is definitely needed, so if there isn't one....

Good luck and I hope this helps!

I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that with a Joint Tenant account, the surviving person automatically gets the stock without any need to go through probate, regardless of whether or not there is a will.

The following legal website seems to confirm my understanding: http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/term/...

I believe that the full name of JT TEN is "Joint Tenants With Right of Survivorship" which I've also seen abbreviated as JTWROS.

There's another type of ownership called "Tenants in Common" in which you each effectively own half of it and at your death, your half goes through the will/probate process to whomever you choose to give it to.

I'm pretty sure that JT TEN would be the JTWROS, but it wouldn't hurt to ask the broker (or transfer agent if you actually have a physical stock certificate) just to be sure.

it may be good to plan for this on your tax return -- if this stock pays a dividend and/or other income that you get a tax slip for it should be put 50/50 between you and your spouse; this will help ensure that your intention is to show it as a joint item, which if JTWROS is what you want. i've seen situations where the slip had the JTWROS criteria but because only one person claimed 100% of the dividends or other income on the tax return the tax courts deemed the stock to be property of the one claiming the income on it. just be sure to keep consistent on your tax return... if you want it joint then file the income joint.