Legal
Referring to property, rights or obligations which are united, undivided and shared by two or more persons or entities. thus, a joint property held by both cannot be effectively transferred unless all owners join in the transaction. if a creditor sues to collect a joint debt, he/she must include all the debtors in the lawsuit, unless the debt is specifically “joint and several,” meaning any one of the debtors may be individually liable. therefore, care must be taken in drafting deeds, sales agreements, promissory notes, joint venture agreements and other documents. a joint tenancy is treated specially, since it includes the right of the survivor to get the entire property when the other dies (right of survivorship).
