## Facts

- Alice C. Studstill died in 1970 owning approximately 750 acres in Dodge County, Georgia.
- Her will devised the tract to her two children, James H. Studstill and Mary Ella S. Studstill (later Williams), stating they were to take “as joint tenants and not as tenants in common and to the survivor of them in fee simple.”
- The executors assented to the devise in 1972.
- In 1980, Mary Ella conveyed her interest to her nephew, James Arthur Williams, while reserving a life estate and timber rights.
- In June 1982, James H. Studstill died testate; his widow, Louise Studstill, was executrix and sole heir.
- Louise sued Mary Ella and James Arthur Williams, claiming James’s estate owned a one-half interest in the land.
- The trial court ruled that the will created a joint tenancy and that Mary Ella’s 1980 conveyance severed it into a tenancy in common, allowing Louise to inherit James’s one-half interest.

## Issues

1. Whether a pre-1976 Georgia will could create an enforceable right of survivorship between co-owners despite the abolition of common-law joint tenancy.
2. Whether an inter vivos conveyance by one co-owner defeats or severs an expressly created testamentary right of survivorship so that the deceased co-owner’s heirs take a share.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed.
- The will created an enforceable express right of survivorship in the surviving child, not a common-law joint tenancy.
- Mary Ella’s 1980 conveyance did not destroy the survivorship right.
- Upon James’s death, Mary Ella, as the survivor named in the will, became entitled to the entire fee simple; Louise took no ownership interest in the land.

## Legal Principles

- Before the 1976 statute authorizing statutory joint tenancies, common-law joint tenancy (including survivorship as a technical incident of that estate) had been abolished in Georgia.
- Despite that abolition, Georgia law permitted parties to create survivorship rights by express language in a contract or will; such rights are enforced according to the instrument’s terms and intent.
- The common-law “four unities” severance doctrine applies to common-law joint tenancy; it does not control an estate structured as concurrent ownership coupled with an express survivorship provision.
- The 1976 joint-tenancy statute applies prospectively and does not retroactively alter survivorship rights created by earlier wills.

## Conclusion

The court held that the will’s express “to the survivor” language created a survivorship right enforceable under pre-1976 Georgia law and that Mary Ella’s lifetime conveyance did not defeat that right, so she took the entire property when James died.


Williams v. Studstill, 251 Ga. 466 (1983)