Joint tenancy designations fail to take into consideration the risk of incapacity (like illness or a coma), along with the death of each spouse.

These types of questions and concerns are common during the estate planning process. And, it can be quite surprising to address the pros and cons of designing better strategies for a family home.

Many married couples who purchase a home ask for joint tenancy. Others make even a bigger mistake by selecting tenancy in common.

That aside, many couples forget what they designated, until it is far too late. In general though, joint tenancy means that two or more individuals or entities have shared ownership of the real property.

One of the many reasons two people might do this, is to protect one another in case of death. For example, when a person dies as a joint tenant, their ownership is automatically transferred to the other tenants. Even as we grieve, the surviving owner will automatically be the sole owner of the property.

Unfortunately, for families who have not transferred their home into a trust or were unable to complete a transfer on death deed, joint tenancy is still a flawed strategy.

Joint tenancies fail when a surviving spouse dies, gets sick, and or becomes incapacitated. This risk can be lessened by designating an attorney in fact, using a revocable trust, and a host of other supporting documents.