Whereas joint tenancy with right of survivorship permits property to pass to the survivor without the cost or delay of probate proceedings, there shall be a form of co-ownership of property, real and personal, known as joint tenancy. A joint tenancy shall have the incidents of survivorship and severability as at common law, including the unilateral right of each tenant to sever the joint tenancy. Joint tenancy shall be created only by written instrument, which instrument shall expressly declare the interest created to be a joint tenancy. It may be created by a single agreement, transfer, deed, will, or other instrument of conveyance, or by agreement, transfer, deed or other instrument from a sole owner to himself or herself and others, or from tenants in common or joint tenants to themselves or some of them, or to themselves or any of them and others, or from both spouses or both domestic partners, when holding title as community property, or otherwise, to themselves or to themselves and others, or to one of them and to another or others, or when granted or devised to executors or trustees as joint tenants: PROVIDED, That such transfer shall not derogate from the rights of creditors.
RCW 64.28.010
Joint tenancies with right of survivorship authorized—Methods of creation—Creditors' rights saved.
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case 100 Wash. 2d 409 - Lyon v. Lyon (1983)
Most recently applied in Darryl F. Bryant, Sr. v. Darryl F. Bryant, Jr. (April 2017)
2008 c 6 s 625; 1993 c 19 s 1; 1963 ex.s. c 16 s 1; 1961 c 2 s 1 (Initiative Measure No. 208, approved November 8, 1960).
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.