Perhaps the most important Florida case involving tenancies by the entireties in personal property is Beal Bank, SB v.
even if the [b]ank at the customer's request titles the customer's account as "tenants by the entireties" or receives oral or written notice that the customer intends to treat the funds as being held as such, the customer agrees that as between the customer and the bank, the bank may treat the account like any other joint account and subject to all the terms and provisions set forth above.
Accordingly, the court held that as between the debtor and a third-party creditor (other than the financial institution into which the deposits are made), if the signature card or account does not expressly disclaim a TBE form of ownership, a presumption arises that a bank account titled in the names of both spouses is held as tenants by the entireties as long as the account is established by both spouses in accordance with the unities of possession, interest, title, and time and with right of survivorship.
However, if the debtor establishes that the financial institution did not offer a TBE form of account ownership or expressly precluded that form of ownership, then the debtor may prove by other evidence the intent by which the debtor and spouse held the account as tenants by the entireties.
The Craft court failed to value the lien or measure the husband's interest in the entireties property, thus, leaving the measuring device to be determined on remand.
Hence, one tenant owner in tenancy by the entireties property lacks control.
Such marketability factors, or lack thereof, are similarly found in joint ownership of tenancy by the entireties property where there is no active market for resale of a partial interest.
Just as options may be valued, "survivorship" and the ability to sever tenancy by the entireties property may be valued.
This idea is not original and has been the subject of many scholarly writings.[21] More specifically, the entireties doctrine has been deemed an "ancient and archaic form of property ownership."[22] Consequently, 13 other states have clearly rejected the entireties doctrine.[23]
Without tenancies by the entireties, bankrupt debtors would look to the homestead exemption to protect real estate.
Tenancies by the entireties often play a role in other areas of the law.
To prevent a negative impact upon other areas of the law, the entireties doctrine should only be eliminated as it relates to bankruptcy.
