Illinois real estate Property Ownership comparison
Severalty, tenancy in common and joint tenancy: count owners, then follow the interest
Four investors can own one LLC while the LLC alone owns a building. Two people can share a deed without having survivorship. Start with the actual title interest, then ask what happens when an owner transfers it or dies.
Last reviewed:
The short answer
Severalty means one legal owner, including an entity that alone holds the property. Tenancy in common gives two or more owners undivided shares, which may be unequal, without automatic survivorship. Joint tenancy carries survivorship while it remains valid and unsevered. A share is not a separately owned room or strip. In Illinois, the general multi-grantee default is tenancy in common, subject to the statutory exceptions and valid express creation of another estate.
PSI covers severalty, tenancy in common and joint tenancy at national I.D.1-I.D.3, and business entities at I.D.6. Property Ownership has 10 of the 100 scored national broker questions across the category, without a separate comparison quota. This guide uses Illinois law operative in October 2026. Vesting, marital rights, liens, tax and estate planning require their own review; a form of title alone does not answer every transaction question.
Five questions to follow an ownership interest
- Who actually owns the real estate? Read the vesting instrument and relevant title evidence. Separate an LLC's real estate from its members' entity interests, and titleholders from occupants. Severalty describes one owner, not an unmarried person or a debt-free property.
- What estate was validly created? Illinois Section 1 generally favors tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly creates joint tenancy, with statutory exceptions including executors, trustees and qualifying tenancy by the entirety. Equal contributions or two names do not themselves supply survivorship. Section 1b allows the grantor also to be a grantee in the specified survivorship conveyance.
- What does the share cover? Tenants in common can hold unequal undivided fractions. The fraction does not alone assign rooms or exclude another cotenant. Joint tenancy traditionally requires the unities of time, title, interest and possession, including equal interests; current Illinois creation rules also matter.
- What happens at death or transfer? A tenant-in-common interest does not automatically accrue to the other cotenants. A valid unsevered joint tenancy has survivorship. A lifetime conveyance can sever the affected share without necessarily severing the remaining owners' relationship. A mortgage alone is not automatically such a conveyance under Illinois lien theory.
- How can a disagreement be resolved? Consider an agreed buyout, sale or valid division, with authority to convey each interest. Partition is a court process that can divide property or lead to sale under the governing standards, not an instant private sale of everyone's shares. Qualifying heirs property has a separate statutory framework.
| Feature | Severalty | Tenancy in common | Joint tenancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of legal owners | One | Two or more | Two or more |
| Nature of the interest | Sole ownership of the stated estate | Undivided fractional interests | Undivided interests with survivorship |
| Equal shares required? | No cotenant shares to compare | No; unequal fractions are possible | Equal interests in the traditional joint-tenancy structure |
| Automatic survivor takes at death? | No cotenant survivor | No | Yes, while valid and unsevered |
| Lifetime transfer | Transfer must respect the actual estate and other applicable rights | An owner can generally convey that owner's share | Conveyance can sever the affected share |
| One owner's mortgage | Does not establish co-ownership | Debt and lien consequences need separate analysis | Mortgage alone does not automatically sever under Illinois law |
| Partition as a cotenant remedy | No cotenant relationship to partition | Generally available under the governing rules | Generally available under the governing rules |
The distinctions that matter
| Distinction | How it works | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Severalty and several investors | One LLC can be the sole real estate owner even though several members own interests in it. Illinois Section 30-1 says a member is not a co-owner of LLC property. | Count the legal real estate owner, not the investors. |
| Undivided share and divided land | A fraction identifies an ownership interest throughout the property. It does not itself create a separate lot, floor or room. | A 30% tenant in common does not automatically get only 30% of the rooms. |
| Survivorship and a will | An unsevered joint-tenancy interest follows survivorship rather than the deceased owner's will. A tenant-in-common share has no such automatic cotenant-survivor feature. | Do not say every tenant-in-common share necessarily requires probate; another valid transfer arrangement may matter. |
| Severance and partition | Severance changes a joint-tenancy relationship. Partition concerns division or sale of co-owned property under the governing rules. | One interest can become tenancy in common while other interests remain in joint tenancy. |
| A deed and a mortgage | A conveyance can sever joint tenancy. Harms holds that the mortgage at issue was a lien and did not itself sever under Illinois law. | Do not treat every lien or later enforcement event as legally identical to a deed. |
| Equal title and equal payment | Joint-tenancy interests and the creation requirements are different from who supplied the down payment or later expenses. | Unequal contributions do not by themselves rewrite the title, though accounting or other claims may need review. |
| Share arithmetic and sale value | A specified distribution can be divided by stated fractions. A separately sold fractional interest need not fetch that fraction of the whole property's market value. | NAB Bank illustrates how limited control and additional litigation can affect a fractional-interest sale. |
| Tenancy by the entirety and ordinary joint tenancy | Illinois recognizes qualifying, expressly created entirety ownership with its own eligibility and transaction rules. | Marriage alone does not turn every two-person title into either survivorship form. |
Work through the facts
Four members, one property owner
A valid deed gives title only to Lakeview Housing LLC. Four people hold LLC membership interests; none has a direct deeded real estate share.
- The LLC is the sole real estate owner.
- The membership interests are not four undivided deeds to the building.
Answer: The LLC holds the stated real estate interest in severalty.
A 70/30 undivided interest
A valid deed expressly gives Priya 70% and Marcos 30% as tenants in common. No separate occupancy allocation is stated.
- The title fractions are unequal, which tenancy in common permits.
- Marcos's 30% is not a separately owned physical 30% of the home. Neither cotenant may simply appropriate an area and exclude the other.
Answer: They hold undivided tenancy-in-common shares, subject to each other's rights and any valid agreement.
Two unrelated grantees, no survivorship estate
An Illinois deed names two unrelated individuals and does not expressly create joint tenancy or another estate. No trustee or executor exception applies.
- There is concurrent ownership.
- Two names and equal payments do not replace the express creation required for joint tenancy.
Answer: The general Illinois result is tenancy in common on these stated facts.
A tenant in common leaves a will
A owns a 25% tenancy-in-common share. A dies with a valid will leaving that share to a daughter; assume no other transfer arrangement changes the result. B already owns 75%.
- The title has no automatic survivorship between A and B.
- A's share follows the applicable estate-transfer process rather than automatically becoming B's.
Answer: B does not become sole owner merely because A died. The daughter's interest must be handled through the applicable estate and title process.
A joint tenant leaves a conflicting will
A and B hold a valid, unsevered joint tenancy when A dies. A's will names a friend to receive A's interest in this property. No other affecting event is stated.
- The survivorship estate is still in place at death.
- The will does not by itself sever the living joint tenancy or defeat that survivorship.
Answer: B holds the property by survivorship, subject to applicable title and claim issues. The friend does not receive that joint-tenancy interest under the will.
One of three owners transfers
A, B and C hold equal valid joint-tenancy interests. A validly conveys A's entire one-third interest to D. No other severance occurs.
- D holds the transferred one-third as tenant in common with the continuing owners.
- B and C can remain joint tenants with each other in their combined two-thirds.
Answer: This is a mixed structure, not necessarily three tenancy-in-common shares. If B later dies while their relationship remains unsevered, C holds that combined two-thirds and D retains one-third.
A mortgage is the only stated event
A and B are valid Illinois joint tenants. A alone grants a mortgage on A's interest. No conveyance, foreclosure sale or other severing event is stated.
- Harms distinguishes a lien from a title conveyance.
- The mortgage alone does not destroy the joint tenancy under that Illinois rule.
Answer: Do not infer automatic severance. The actual debt, lien and any later enforcement or death facts need separate analysis.
A self-conveyance, not just a private wish
A joint tenant wants to end survivorship. Compare a private note saying I no longer want this with the properly executed and recorded self-conveyance considered in Minonk.
- Minonk permits severance through the self-conveyance on its facts.
- It does not hold that every private statement of intent severs, or supply a deed template.
Answer: A recognized effective act matters. Neither a universal straw-person requirement nor an intent-alone rule fits the cited decision.
A stated distribution, not a price quote
After an agreed whole-property sale, exactly $240,000 remains for distribution. The parties stipulate a 70/30 split, with no offsets, liens or accounting adjustments.
- Priya receives $240,000 × 0.70 = $168,000.
- Marcos receives $240,000 × 0.30 = $72,000. The amounts total $240,000.
Answer: Those are the stipulated distributions. They are not guaranteed prices for separately sold fractional interests or a rule deciding disputed expense credits.
A deadlock does not authorize one seller
Four tenants in common disagree about inherited land. One wants an immediate sale of the entire property and assumes the others cannot object.
- One cotenant does not obtain authority to convey everyone's interest merely by wanting a sale.
- A partition action must follow the applicable framework. The court determines whether the property qualifies under the heirs-property Act; that Act includes specified buyout and partition rules.
Answer: Seek an agreed transaction or the appropriate court process. A demand for sale is not an immediate guarantee of sale, physical division or a particular net payout.
Mistakes to avoid
- Severalty means unmarried It identifies one legal owner, not marital status. Other marital or homestead rights can still affect a transaction.
- One deed with two names means joint tenancy Illinois requires the appropriate express estate and legal conditions, subject to statutory exceptions.
- A 30% share means 30% of the bedrooms Undivided ownership does not itself allocate rooms or permit exclusion.
- A will defeats all survivorship The valid unsevered joint-tenancy estate controls its survivorship result.
- Any transfer severs every remaining joint relationship A conveyance can sever the affected share while the other owners' relationship continues.
- Every mortgage automatically severs in Illinois Harms distinguishes the mortgage lien from a conveyance. Later events need their own analysis.
- A partition demand guarantees an immediate sale The governing statute, property and parties' interests control the court process and remedy.
- A fraction is always that fraction of market price Stated distribution arithmetic is different from valuing an illiquid or separately sold partial interest.
Check your understanding
These are original teaching questions, not recalled or predicted PSI questions. Answer first, then explain why the other choices fail.
1. An LLC alone holds the building's title, and four members hold only LLC interests. How is the real estate held?
- In severalty by the LLC
- As four direct tenants in common
- As four separate physical parcels
- In joint tenancy by the members
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. In severalty by the LLC
The LLC is the sole real estate owner. Section 30-1 distinguishes a member's interest from direct co-ownership of LLC property.
2. Priya and Marcos validly hold 70/30 undivided tenancy-in-common shares. What does the 30% share alone give Marcos?
- An undivided interest, subject to the other cotenant's rights
- Exclusive title to 30% of the bedrooms
- Automatic survivorship to Priya's share
- Authority to convey the entire house without Priya
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. An undivided interest, subject to the other cotenant's rights
A fraction of undivided ownership does not itself divide the property physically or authorize exclusion or transfer of another's share.
3. Two unrelated individual Illinois grantees are named without express joint tenancy or another estate, and no executor or trustee exception applies. What is the general result?
- Joint tenancy because two names appear
- Severalty because one deed was used
- Tenancy by the entirety despite no qualifying relationship
- Tenancy in common under the statutory default
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Tenancy in common under the statutory default
Section 1 supplies the general tenancy-in-common default and express-creation framework. The question rules out the relevant exceptions; equal contributions would not supply survivorship by themselves.
4. A tenant in common dies. What follows from that title form alone?
- The surviving cotenant always becomes sole owner
- The deceased share disappears
- The surviving cotenant does not automatically take the deceased owner's share
- The deceased share necessarily converts to a life estate
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. The surviving cotenant does not automatically take the deceased owner's share
Tenancy in common has no automatic cotenant survivorship. The applicable will, intestacy or other valid transfer arrangement needs review; probate is not the inevitable route for every possible arrangement.
5. A and B remain valid unsevered joint tenants when A dies, with no other affecting event. A's will gives that interest to a friend. What controls?
- The will automatically severs the estate at death
- Who contributed more to the down payment
- Who first records a new survey
- The joint-tenancy survivorship estate
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The joint-tenancy survivorship estate
The stated joint tenancy remained valid and unsevered at death. A conflicting will does not by itself defeat that survivorship.
6. A, B and C are equal joint tenants. A validly conveys A's whole one-third to D, with no other severance. What structure can remain?
- D owns the entire property
- Every interest necessarily becomes severalty
- D holds one-third in common, while B and C remain joint in the combined two-thirds
- D automatically replaces A as joint tenant with survivorship in the whole
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. D holds one-third in common, while B and C remain joint in the combined two-thirds
A's conveyance can sever the affected share without destroying the continuing joint relationship between B and C. Jackson explains partial severance and the third-party variation.
7. In the preceding mixed structure, B dies without another severance. Which fractions remain?
- B's one-third necessarily goes to B's will beneficiary
- C holds two-thirds and D retains one-third
- C owns one-half and D owns one-half
- D receives B's one-third by survivorship
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. C holds two-thirds and D retains one-third
Survivorship operates within B and C's continuing joint interest. D's separate one-third does not gain their survivorship benefit.
8. An Illinois joint tenant alone mortgages that tenant's interest, with no other event stated. What does Harms support?
- The mortgage lien alone does not automatically sever the joint tenancy
- The mortgage necessarily severs because it creates an encumbrance
- Granting the mortgage and completing every later foreclosure event must have identical title effects
- Only the mortgagor's private intent determines whether the mortgage severed
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The mortgage lien alone does not automatically sever the joint tenancy
Harms applies Illinois lien theory and distinguishes the mortgage from a title conveyance. It does not make every later enforcement or death scenario identical.
9. What limited lesson does Minonk support?
- The other joint tenant must sign every self-conveyance or it is always void
- An unrecorded informal note is always equivalent to the deed in the case
- A properly effected self-conveyance can sever; a straw person is not universally necessary
- Every private wish ends survivorship immediately
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A properly effected self-conveyance can sever; a straw person is not universally necessary
The court upheld the executed and recorded self-conveyance before it. Do not replace that effective act with intent alone or treat the opinion as a universal document template.
10. A stipulated $240,000 net distribution is divided 70/30, with no adjustments. What does the 30% owner receive?
- $24,000
- $72,000
- $120,000
- $168,000
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. $72,000
Multiply $240,000 by 0.30 to get $72,000; the 70% amount is $168,000. This is a stated distribution, not a valuation guarantee for a separately sold interest.
11. What is the best statement about a cotenant's demand for partition?
- It always produces physical lots matching ownership percentages
- It invokes a court process under the applicable partition framework, with division, sale or heirs-property rules considered
- It authorizes that cotenant to privately deed everyone's share
- It guarantees immediate sale regardless of the governing law
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. It invokes a court process under the applicable partition framework, with division, sale or heirs-property rules considered
Section 17-101 and the related provisions supply a process. Section 17-105 addresses division without manifest prejudice and sale; qualifying heirs property follows its own framework. A demand alone does not decide the outcome.
12. Does one person making more mortgage or upkeep payments automatically increase that person's deeded share?
- Yes, payment makes the other owner a tenant
- Yes, every payment automatically changes the recorded percentages
- No, because cotenants can never have any financial claim against each other
- No; title and any accounting, contribution or other claim need separate analysis
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No; title and any accounting, contribution or other claim need separate analysis
Payment does not automatically rewrite title. It may raise contribution or accounting questions, which depend on the actual obligations, facts, agreements and applicable law.
Common questions
What is the difference between severalty, tenancy in common and joint tenancy?
Severalty means one legal owner, including an entity that alone holds the property. Tenancy in common gives two or more owners undivided shares, which may be unequal, without automatic survivorship. Joint tenancy carries survivorship while it remains valid and unsevered. A share is not a separately owned room or strip. In Illinois, the general multi-grantee default is tenancy in common, subject to the statutory exceptions and valid express creation of another estate.
Does severalty mean the owner is single?
No. It means one legal owner. The owner can be a married individual or an entity. Do not infer that a sole owner can ignore every spouse, homestead, lien or authority requirement merely because no cotenant appears in the title.
Can an LLC with several members own real estate in severalty?
Yes, when the LLC alone holds the real estate interest. Illinois Section 30-1 says a member is not a co-owner of the LLC's property. Membership or distributional interests are distinct from direct deeded real estate shares.
Can tenants in common have unequal shares or exclusive rooms?
Their undivided title shares can be unequal. The fraction alone does not assign exclusive rooms or permit excluding the other cotenant. Read any valid possession agreement or legal division separately; do not treat 30% ownership as a private map of 30% of the house.
What is Illinois's general default when two people take title?
Section 1 generally treats the conveyance as tenancy in common unless it expressly creates joint tenancy, with statutory exceptions for executors and trustees and qualifying express entirety ownership. Exact wording and the legal estate matter. Two names, marriage or equal purchase payments are not a universal substitute for proper creation.
What are the four unities of joint tenancy?
The traditional unities are time, title, interest and possession: interests acquired together through the same title, of the same nature and duration, with undivided possession. Equal interests form part of that structure; equal cash contributions are a different question. Illinois Section 1b permits the grantor to be a grantee in the specified survivorship conveyance, so do not add a universal straw-person requirement.
Does a will override joint-tenancy survivorship?
A will does not by itself defeat the survivorship of a joint tenancy that remains valid and unsevered at death. Check for effective earlier severance and other title or claim issues. A tenant-in-common share has no automatic cotenant survivorship and follows its applicable transfer arrangement instead.
Does a tenant-in-common share always have to pass through probate?
No automatic survivorship attaches to that form, but it does not follow that every share necessarily requires probate. A will, intestacy or another valid transfer arrangement may control. The specific estate and title process need review; surviving cotenants do not simply receive the share because they already own the rest.
Can one joint tenant sell a share without severing every other joint relationship?
Yes. A valid conveyance can sever that tenant's interest while the remaining joint tenants retain survivorship among themselves. With three equal joint tenants and one valid third-party transfer, the transferee can hold one-third in common with the other two's continuing joint interest in two-thirds, absent another affecting event.
Does a mortgage by one joint tenant sever in Illinois?
Harms holds that the mortgage at issue created a lien and did not itself sever the joint tenancy under Illinois law. Do not generalize from granting a mortgage to every later foreclosure, conveyance or death scenario, or assume every lien disappears whenever any owner dies. The actual interest and timing matter.
Can a joint tenant sever by conveying to that same person?
Minonk recognizes the executed and recorded self-conveyance at issue as effective severance. It rejects a universal need for an intermediate straw person. It does not establish that every private statement of intent or informal unrecorded note is an effective severance, and this guide supplies no deed template.
Can one co-owner force the others to sell?
A covered co-owner can seek partition, subject to the governing rules and any relevant limits. The court determines interests and whether division can occur without manifest prejudice under Section 17-105; sale can follow under that section when its conditions apply. A demand is not an immediate guarantee of sale or authority for a private deed of everyone's interests.
Why does inherited property need a separate partition check?
The court must determine whether the property is heirs property under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. If it qualifies, that Act governs unless all cotenants otherwise agree in a record, and inconsistent Article XVII provisions give way. Section 7 includes a specified cotenant-buyout process. Not every property held by relatives automatically meets every statutory definition.
Does a 50% share always sell for half the property's value?
No. NAB Bank illustrates that a separately sold undivided interest can be affected by limited control, marketability and the cost of further litigation. Multiplying a stipulated net distribution by an ownership fraction is arithmetic; it is not a universal market valuation or guaranteed sale price.
Do larger payments automatically increase ownership?
No. Title, debt promises and financial adjustments are separate matters. Extra mortgage, tax or upkeep payments may raise contribution, reimbursement or other questions; they do not automatically rewrite the deed. The actual agreement, duties, credits and court findings can affect a final distribution.
Is tenancy by the entirety just another name for joint tenancy?
No. Illinois Section 1c provides a separate, qualifying express estate with its own eligibility, homestead, survivorship, conversion and transaction rules. Marriage alone does not create it. Use the dedicated Illinois joint-tenancy and entirety guide for the more specific comparison rather than assuming the three forms here answer every marital-title issue.
Keep practising
Your next practice step
Put property ownership into practice
Decide what the property interest is, who holds it, and what the stated event changes.
These web resources are free. The app has a separate free starter tier and optional paid full access.
Official sources and scope
The Illinois statutes supply the creation, entity and partition rules. The published decisions distinguish a mortgage from severance, recognize the specific self-conveyance and partial-transfer patterns, and explain undivided possession and fractional-interest valuation. Worked amounts are original stated distributions, not market quotes, estate-planning recommendations or predictions of disputed accounting results.
- PSI June 24, 2026: national I.D.1-I.D.3 and I.D.6
- 765 ILCS 1005/1: express ownership and general default
- 765 ILCS 1005/1b: grantor may also be grantee
- 765 ILCS 1005/1c: current entirety creation and conversion rules
- 735 ILCS 5/17-101: partition of covered co-ownership
- Harms v. Sprague, 105 Ill. 2d 215 (1984): mortgage versus severance
- Minonk State Bank v. Grassman, 95 Ill. 2d 392 (1983): recorded self-conveyance
- Jackson v. O'Connell, 23 Ill. 2d 52 (1961): partial severance
- 805 ILCS 180/30-1: membership is not co-ownership of LLC property
- 735 ILCS 5/17-105: division and sale are distinct court outcomes
- 755 ILCS 75/3: deciding whether the heirs-property framework applies
- 755 ILCS 75/7: specified cotenant buyout
- NAB Bank v. LaSalle Bank, 2013 IL App (1st) 121147: undivided possession and partial-interest value
This is exam preparation, not advice for a specific transaction. State law and the applicable facts control. Our editorial and corrections process explains how to report an issue.