I hear so much about joint tenancy for properties of married people. But I also hear that this is not a good idea. I don’t really understand the reasoning behind this, and was wondering if anyone knew advantages/disadvantages…A local San Diego Wills and Trusts Attorney has suggested putting the property in the name of a trust, but I’m not sure I want to deal with the hassle of all this paperwork. Is it really worth it?

“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.” --Lloyd Shearer

Is this a general question or was there a retirement plan/IRA angle to it? (Retirement plan and IRA assets will transfer by a beneficiary designation, and can't be held jointly, so I don't think it relates to retirement plans.)

Property held under a joint tenancy with right of survivorship will pass to the surviving spouse by virtue of that titling. Unless you have some other specific goal, and understand why holding assets in a trust is better in your particular situation, I wouldn't bother.

I agree with Bird. Don't do a trust unless you completely understand how it will work and it is necessary to accomplish your objectives.

I think the same thing is true of titling property in joint tenancy. Bird stated the general rule, but there are some states where by statute and/or case law that if a depository account is what is at issue and the sole source of the deposits was just one of the two named on the joint tenancy account, the presumption will be that the second person's name was put on the account merely as a convenience to the one making the deposits, and not intended to give rights of survivorship to the other.