A joint tenant who feloniously and intentionally kills another joint tenant thereby effects a severance of the interest of the decedent so that the share of the decedent passes as the decedent’s property and the killer has no rights by survivorship. This section applies to joint tenancies in real and personal property, joint and multiple-party accounts in financial institutions, and any other form of coownership with survivorship incidents.

(Enacted by Stats. 1990, Ch. 79.)

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Terms Used In California Probate Code 251

  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership and includes both real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Probate Code 62