Does the right of survivorship confer a complete and perfect gift to a joint tenant of a property?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from J.D.G. v. J.J.V., 2016 BCSC 2389 (CanLII):
The Court of Appeal rejected the son’s suggestion the right of survivorship conferred a complete and perfect inter vivos gift: 40 Where a joint tenancy in land is concerned, on the other hand, either of the joint tenants is at liberty to sever the joint tenancy at any time - a fact that clearly undermines the notion that as a matter of law, a joint tenant receives a “full and perfect” inter vivos gift of the “survivorship” … Severance, which occurs automatically upon the destruction of the four unities, ends the jus accrescendi, with the result that each co-owner becomes entitled to a distinct share in the land rather than undivided interest in the whole. … As observed by Steel J.A. in Simcoff v. Simcoff 2009 MBCA 80, a case involving land, “the fact that a ‘complete gift’ … included a right of survivorship does not, prima facie, prevent a donor from dealing with the retained interest while alive. The right of survivorship is only to that what is left.” …
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