## Facts

- In 1963, Denis M. Porter and Mary Jane Porter acquired a Jefferson County, Alabama residence by deed expressly creating a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, stating the survivor would take the entire fee simple unless severed during their joint lives.
- Denis and Mary Jane divorced in 1976.
- The divorce decree described the residence as property “jointly owned” and granted Mary Jane exclusive occupancy “until a change in circumstances warrants a modification,” while requiring Denis to pay specified expenses (including utilities, insurance, taxes, and mortgage obligations) and maintain the property.
- The decree did not order a sale, partition, conveyance, or division of the property and was never modified.
- Denis later remarried and died in 1983.
- Denis’s estate, through its executrix, asserted the divorce decree severed the joint tenancy and sought sale of the property on the theory the parties became tenants in common.

## Issues

1. Whether a divorce decree that grants one former spouse exclusive occupancy and allocates payment obligations, without expressly altering title, severs a joint tenancy with right of survivorship and converts it into a tenancy in common.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed the trial court’s partial summary judgment for the estate.
- The court held the divorce decree did not sever or destroy the joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
- Upon Denis’s death, full fee simple title vested in Mary Jane as the surviving joint tenant.

## Legal Principles

- Divorce, by itself, does not necessarily sever a deed-created joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
- A court will not infer severance absent clear action or decree language altering the estate (e.g., ordering sale, partition, conveyance, or expressly redefining fractional ownership).
- A modifiable award of exclusive occupancy and related payment obligations addresses possession and use and does not, without more, eliminate the unity of possession required for a joint tenancy.
- Strong survivorship language in a deed is given effect unless the joint tenancy is clearly severed or terminated during the joint tenants’ lifetimes.

## Conclusion

Because the divorce decree regulated possession and expenses but did not change title or mandate division, the joint tenancy with right of survivorship remained in place; the surviving former spouse took the entire property upon the other’s death.


Porter v. Porter, 472 So. 2d 630 (Ala. 1985)