Question

Andrea and Taylor are mother and daughter. They both sing for a living but also hold the title as joint tenants to a wind farm in Indiana. Last year, Andrea secretly mortgaged her interest in the wind farm to Celine after a heated argument with Taylor about the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. A few months later, Andrea married Garth, Taylor's biological father, in a private ceremony in the Caribbean. A year later, while performing with Skip Marley and SOJA at Reggaechella in Ocho Rios, Taylor suddenly died while crowd surfing. Taylor's valid will left all of her assets to her father. Which of the following is correct?

1) Andrea inherited the wind farm from Taylor
2) Celine is now the sole owner of the wind farm
3) Garth inherited all of Taylor's assets
4) Andrea and Garth are now joint tenants of the wind farm

Answer 1

Andrea inherits the wind farm due to the right of survivorship inherent in joint tenancy, making her the sole owner despite Taylor's will; Garth does not receive the wind farm but inherits any other assets; Celine remains a creditor with a mortgage interest.

Step-by-step explanation:

The scenario describes a situation involving joint tenancy ownership, which is a form of co-ownership where two or more people hold equal shares of a property with the right of survivorship. If one joint tenant dies, their interest in the property automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant(s) and cannot be willed to someone else. In the given scenario, Taylor's sudden death would result in Andrea inheriting Taylor's interest in the wind farm due to right of survivorship. Therefore, Andrea would become the sole owner, as joint tenancy trumps any bequests made in a will. Additionally, any mortgage on Andrea's interest would remain valid, and Garth cannot inherit any of Taylor's interests in the wind farm. Any other assets Taylor had could potentially be left to Garth, depending on the stipulations of Taylor's will and any applicable state laws. Moreover, Celine's mortgage would not result in her becoming the owner of the wind farm, merely a creditor with a security interest in Andrea's portion of the property prior to Taylor's death, which now has merged with Andrea's interest as the sole owner.