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843.
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAC OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
-a.yIIp( y./- LA -
-9mua
Honorable George H. shoppard
Co?lptrollarof Publio dcoouats
Austin, Tesms
xb3arsir:
3t for an opinion
t:orrawfor xite
ioheritanco tams. art 98 r0im6:
. with r&&t or surcivorshlg,end not as tenants
in COaxOn."
~;eare further edviccd that Harry E. Xorrow and Certrtie Ii.
vorrow :7arohusband end vita durin::all ot the tina Involved,
&d the",no cocsidsrntionwas pald to 22. E!orrowor onyoce
el.nefm having the stmk re-lseuad to hi.%and his wire as
Joi& t@;?ant~.
I 844
Honorable George E. Sheppnrd, Page 2,
Your question 16 what part ol'this stock, if any,
is subject to the State luherltame tax by virtue or xr.
LorroWs death. I
!
Khen this &oak wm lx&stilted by Xi. Harry E. EOT-
row fro=.his father'ln 1932 It becam his separate property,
and his wire had no interestin It at that tine. Artiole
4613 of the Revised Civil Statutes ot Texas) Townsend '0.
Challlett, (Civ. App.) 45 S. I?.2nd 334.
His aot of having the etook re-issued to him and
his wife as joint tenants appears to have been purely voluh-
tarp on his part en& we uademtand that he received no con-
sideration. Khatever interest I&s. Gertrude ?.I.tiorrow re-
oeivod in the stock was a &lPt frcn Ur. Korrow. One spouse
hss the power and authority in Texas to &ive his or her sep-
arate property, or an interest therein, to the other spouse.
23 TQX. Jur. 70; speercs Law ,ofzarital Right5 in Texas, 3rd
Ed., pp. 179-186.
Let us now look at the nature of ejolnt tenanoies.*
Tiefind a definitionof joint tenancy in 14 Amrican Jurls-
prudence 79 as follows:
*An estate ia joint tanenay is one hold by
two'or gore persom jo,$ntly, with equal rights
to sham in its enjoyxoont during their lives,
aud having as its dlatlngulshihgreature the
ri&t of sul'vlvorship or jus aocresoendl,by vlr-
tore,of nhlch the eat~lreestate, upon the death
02 any of the joint tenants, goss to the survi-
vors, and so oi?to the last SurvLvor, who takes
an o&ate of ,inheritanoefree and exempt fro5
all charges zade by his dcccased ootemnts. . .*
i3yvirtue of tho holdinljof the Cotit of Civil IQ-
US?&? at aoammt in the case of chandler V. Kountze, (1939)
130 3 . x . (2d) 327 (writ refused), it io now establishedthat
a joint t~mncy cm legally exist 1~ Taxas. Prior to the
holding in that case thme was so1ceoonfusfon a5 to the mean-
LE