Explanations
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A corporation is prohibited from holding title to real property in California as a joint tenant due to its perpetual existence. Joint tenancy is characterized by the right of survivorship, where a deceased joint tenant’s interest automatically passes to the surviving joint tenants. Since a corporation is an “artificial person” and does not “die” in the same way a natural person does, its perpetual existence conflicts with the fundamental principle of survivorship in joint tenancy. Therefore, only natural persons can typically hold property in joint tenancy.