Any one joint tenant may withdraw all or a part of the funds in a joint bank account. Any co-owner may redeem U.S. Treasury bonds. The creation of a joint tenancy has important legal consequences. Estate, gift or income taxes may be affected. Joint tenancy may have other consequences.
Joint tenancy is useful in the right case.
However, joint tenancies are not a simple solution to estate problems but can, in fact, create problems where none existed. The costs of preparing a Will, tax planning and probate may be of little significance compared with the unintended problems that can arise from using joint tenancies indiscriminately. For a full explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of joint tenancy in your particular situation, you should consult a lawyer. With his or her advice, you will be able to make an informed choice of the best way to accomplish your objectives. Although the laws of the Probate Court do vary from state to state, what we will attempt to do here is to give some very basic ideas and information about what one might expect when taking an estate through Probate.