Tenancy in common is the default
A Mississippi deed that transfers real estate to multiple owners creates a tenancy in common by default, unless it clearly specifies a different form of ownership. Under a tenancy in common, each co-owner's interest becomes part of their own probate estate at death — it doesn't automatically pass to the other owners.
Joint tenancy needs exact survivorship language
To create a joint tenancy with right of survivorship instead, a Mississippi deed must expressly state that the new owners will be "joint tenants with a right of survivorship." When a joint tenant dies, their interest automatically vests in the surviving co-owner or owners, without probate for that specific property.
Tenancy by the entirety: extra protection for spouses
Mississippi also recognizes tenancy by the entirety, available only to married spouses. A deed creating this form must expressly state that the new owners hold title "as tenants by the entirety with right of survivorship." Tenancy by the entirety carries the same survivorship benefit as joint tenancy, plus an additional layer of protection against creditors of just one spouse — a creditor pursuing only one spouse generally can't reach entirety property the way they could reach an ordinary joint tenant's interest.
The divorce twist: downgrade, not termination
Here's Mississippi's most distinctive rule. When entirety spouses divorce, the tenancy by the entirety doesn't simply end — it converts into an ordinary joint tenancy. This means the former spouses keep their right of survivorship after the divorce, even though they're no longer married, unless one of them takes further action to sever the joint tenancy afterward (typically by conveying away their own share). Many people would reasonably assume that divorce automatically ends any survivorship arrangement between former spouses, but in Mississippi, that assumption is wrong — the survivorship simply persists in a different legal form until someone actively breaks it.
Why this matters for post-divorce planning
This conversion rule means divorcing Mississippi spouses who owned property as tenants by the entirety need to take a specific, affirmative step if they want to end their mutual survivorship arrangement — the divorce decree itself doesn't automatically accomplish that. Anyone going through a Mississippi divorce involving entirety property should treat severing that joint tenancy as a distinct item on their post-divorce to-do list, separate from the divorce proceeding itself.
Clearing title after a co-owner's death
When a joint tenant dies, the surviving owner clears title by recording a survivorship affidavit, which updates the land records to reflect undivided title in the surviving owner — no probate proceeding needed for that specific asset. This is a straightforward administrative step compared to the process a tenancy-in-common share would require.
Co-ownership through a trust
Mississippi also lets two or more people effectively co-own real estate as beneficiaries of a revocable living trust. To do this, they first form a trust with a written trust instrument, and the current property owner then records a deed transferring title to the trustee. This gives co-owners another structural option beyond joint tenancy, tenancy by the entirety, or tenancy in common.
A separate, more modern tool for real estate
None of this changes the fact that Mississippi also offers a completely separate, more recently adopted route for keeping real estate out of probate. See our guide to the Mississippi transfer-on-death deed for how that tool works alongside these ownership rules.