I want to share an estate case I handled for a young adult male. My client's mother and her boyfriend had bought a house together and in the hopes of protecting her share of the house for her son, without seeking the assistance of counsel, she arranged it so that the title on the deed declared that the mother and her boyfriend were "tenants in common." By doing this, the mother would be able to transfer her share to whomever she decided to by stating so in her will. Some time after the purchase, the mother and her boyfriend got married. For some reason, however, she didn't change the title of the house they both owned (probably an oversight).

When two tenants that own a house together get married, they usually modify the deed to "tenants by the entirety" so that each one's spouse receives the other half of the house if the spouse should pass away.

Soon after, the mother unfortunately passed away and both her son and now widower came to realize that she hadn't prepared a will. When it came to decide who would own her share of the house, the intestate statute dictated how to distribute the property. Since no will was prepared by the mother, instead of her son receiving the entire house (which was the original intention), her son ended up with only half of the house. Her husband, on the other hand, ended up receiving the other half of the house, as the surviving spouse.