## Facts

- Hazel Tenhet and Raymond Johnson owned a parcel of real property as joint tenants.
- Without Tenhet’s knowledge or consent, Johnson entered into a written lease with W. W. Boswell, Jr. for a 10-year term at $150 per year.
- The lease also granted Boswell an option to purchase the property.
- Johnson died about three months after executing the lease, before the lease term ended.
- Tenhet, claiming the survivorship rights of a joint tenant, demanded that Boswell vacate the premises; Boswell refused.
- Tenhet filed an action seeking a declaration that Johnson’s death invalidated the lease (and the related option) and that Tenhet was entitled to sole possession.
- The trial court sustained demurrers to portions of the complaint, granted a motion to strike other causes of action, and entered a judgment of dismissal.
- Tenhet appealed from the judgment of dismissal.

## Issues

1. Was the judgment of dismissal final and appealable even though the trial court did not expressly rule on every pleaded cause of action, where the record showed the court intended to dispose of the entire action?
2. Does a lease executed by one joint tenant, without the other joint tenant’s consent, sever the joint tenancy?
3. If the lease does not sever the joint tenancy, does the lease (and its purchase option) survive the lessor joint tenant’s death and bind the surviving joint tenant?

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court treated the judgment of dismissal as final and appealable because the trial court’s failure to dispose expressly of all causes of action appeared to be inadvertent and the court intended to end the case.
- The court held that a lease by one joint tenant does not sever the joint tenancy.
- The court held that because the lease did not sever the joint tenancy, it expired upon the death of the lessor joint tenant; the surviving joint tenant took the property free of the lease and the purchase option.
- The judgment of dismissal was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.

## Legal Principles

- Joint tenancy is characterized by the right of survivorship: when one joint tenant dies, the decedent’s interest is extinguished and the survivor takes the whole estate.
- Severance of a joint tenancy requires a clear act inconsistent with continuation of the joint tenancy (commonly, a conveyance of the joint tenant’s entire interest); ambiguous conduct is not enough.
- A lease by one joint tenant is a limited transfer of possessory rights for a term and does not necessarily destroy the unities associated with joint tenancy or convert the estate into a tenancy in common.
- When a joint tenant grants a lease that does not sever the joint tenancy, the lessee’s rights are subject to the survivorship feature of joint tenancy; if the lessor joint tenant dies first, the lessor’s interest ends, and the lease ends with it as against the surviving joint tenant.
- Contractual rights tied to the leasehold created by the deceased joint tenant—such as an option to purchase included in the lease—are likewise extinguished upon the lessor joint tenant’s death when the joint tenancy remains intact.
- Under California’s modified “one final judgment” rule, an appeal may proceed from a dismissal that was intended to dispose of the entire action even if a remaining claim was not expressly adjudicated due to mistake or oversight.

## Conclusion

Tenhet v. Boswell holds that one joint tenant’s unilateral lease does not sever a joint tenancy, and if the lessor joint tenant dies during the lease term, the lease and related option to purchase terminate because the lessor’s interest is extinguished at death; the surviving joint tenant takes title and possession free of those claimed rights.


Tenhet v. Boswell, 554 P.2d 330 (1976)