One handy tool in the estate planning toolbox for some married Americans is Tenants by the Entirety (TBE) ownership. Under Florida law, married citizens may jointly own bank accounts, real property (including their homestead), and some personal property. Property acquired during the marriage is actually presumed to be TBE as long as six legal unities are satisfied. A great benefit of TBE property is that it is exempt from process to satisfy debts to individual debtors of either spouse because the interest in the property is an inseverable interest in the property as a whole. This protection is not perfect: it does not extend to joint debtors and it ends by divorce or if one spouse dies.
See Heather Ries, Marriage and Asset Protection – Is TBE for you?, Fox Rothschild LLP, April 30, 2018.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.
