## Facts

- Terrell Taylor owned a Colorado ranch in fee simple.
- In 1991, Taylor conveyed the ranch to himself and Lucy I. Canterbury as joint tenants.
- In 1997, Taylor executed and recorded a deed conveying the ranch to himself and Canterbury as tenants in common, expressly stating his intent to sever the joint tenancy.
- Taylor died in 1999.
- Canterbury claimed sole title as surviving joint tenant and sued to quiet title and set aside the 1997 deed, arguing survivorship became fixed at creation of the joint tenancy.

## Issues

1. Whether a joint tenant may unilaterally sever a joint tenancy by conveying his interest back to himself as a tenant in common.
2. Whether the surviving joint tenant’s right of survivorship is a vested property right that cannot be destroyed by the other joint tenant’s unilateral act.

## Decision

- The Colorado Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals and trial court.
- The court held that Taylor’s 1997 self-conveyance to himself as a tenant in common effectively severed the joint tenancy.
- The court concluded that, at Taylor’s death, he owned an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common, which passed to his estate rather than to Canterbury by survivorship.
- The case was remanded for proceedings consistent with the severance and tenancy-in-common ownership.

## Legal Principles

- A joint tenant may unilaterally sever a joint tenancy by conveying his interest to himself as a tenant in common; use of a third-party “strawman” is not required.
- Modern Colorado joint tenancy doctrine focuses on the parties’ intent; acts inconsistent with the right of survivorship effect severance.
- Colorado statutes permit an owner to be both grantor and grantee in a deed (including self-conveyances creating joint tenancies), undermining the common-law bar to self-conveyance for severance.
- The right of survivorship in a joint tenancy is an expectancy that vests only if the joint tenancy remains intact when one joint tenant outlives the other; it is not a fixed, vested interest at creation.

## Conclusion

The court held that a joint tenant’s recorded deed clearly expressing intent to convert joint tenancy into tenancy in common severs the joint tenancy even when the conveyance is made to the grantor himself, and survivorship does not defeat the severance because it is only an expectancy until death while the joint tenancy remains intact.


Taylor v. Canterbury, 92 P.3d 961 (Colo. 2004)