Riddle v. Harmon
California Court of Appeal
162 Cal. Rptr. 530 (1980)
- Written by Dennis Chong, JD
Facts
Mr. and Mrs. Riddle purchased a piece of property as joint tenants. Shortly before her death, Mrs. Riddle learned that her interest in the property would transfer to her husband upon her death. Intending to terminate the joint tenancy so that she could devise her interest in the property, she executed a grant deed conveying to herself “an undivided one-half interest” in the property, expressly stating that the purpose of the transfer was to shatter the joint tenancy. She then included the property in her will. She died 20 days later. Mr. Riddle (plaintiff) sued Harmon (defendant), the executrix of Mrs. Riddle’s estate, to quiet title in himself to Mrs. Riddle’s interest in the property. The trial court held that Mrs. Riddle’s conveyance did not destroy the joint tenancy and quieted titled in Mr. Riddle. The estate appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Poche, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
