## Facts

- William H. Harms and his brother, John R. Harms, acquired Illinois real property as joint tenants with right of survivorship.
- John, without William’s participation, executed a mortgage on his joint-tenancy interest to Carl T. and Mary E. Simmons as security for a debt connected to Charles D. Sprague.
- John later died, leaving all of his real and personal property to Sprague under his will.
- William asserted that, as surviving joint tenant, he became sole owner of the property free of the mortgage.
- Sprague and the Simmonses asserted that the mortgage either severed the joint tenancy or remained enforceable against John’s former share after his death.

## Issues

1. Whether a mortgage executed by fewer than all joint tenants on a joint tenant’s interest severs the joint tenancy.
2. Whether such a mortgage survives the mortgagor joint tenant’s death as a lien on the property.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court.
- A mortgage granted by one joint tenant on his interest does not sever the joint tenancy under Illinois law.
- The mortgage does not survive the mortgagor joint tenant’s death as a lien on the property.
- The surviving joint tenant takes the entire estate by survivorship, and the devisee under the deceased joint tenant’s will takes no interest in the jointly held property.

## Legal Principles

- Joint tenancy continues unless one of the four unities (time, title, interest, possession) is destroyed; survivorship operates at death to vest full title in the survivor.
- Illinois treats a mortgage as a lien rather than a transfer of title; because title is not conveyed, a unilateral mortgage does not sever a joint tenancy.
- Upon a joint tenant’s death, the decedent’s joint-tenancy interest is extinguished; a lien that attached only to that extinguished interest cannot persist against the surviving joint tenant’s complete title.
- Property held in joint tenancy does not pass through the deceased joint tenant’s estate at death; it passes immediately to the survivor by operation of law.

## Conclusion

The court held that, in Illinois, a unilateral mortgage by one joint tenant is merely a lien that neither severs the joint tenancy nor burdens the surviving joint tenant after the mortgagor’s death; survivorship vests full, unencumbered title in the survivor, leaving the devisee with no interest in the property.


Harms v. Sprague, 105 Ill. 2d 215, 473 N.E.2d 930 (Ill. 1984)