Joint owners with rights of survivorship sounds great and it works for most partners.

However, if you or your partner file bankruptcy, apply for medicaid benefits, wish to refinance using just one partner's credit history, joint ownership might be the worst of all worlds.

If either of you declares your partnership over and you can not agree on who gets the jointly owned house or cars, without a written agreement, you might have to go to court to ask the court to partition or separate the property.  If the property can not be separated, then the court may order it sold and may distribute the proceeds equitably.  That can mean almost anything.

Partition actions, constructive trusts, etc... are just a few ways that parties attempt to plead their cases in court.  Jointly titled property can be very problematic when the partnership fails.

Most experienced attorneys advise their clients to make certain they enter a written agreement for any property which is titled with another person.

Attorneys also advise clients regarding what can happen when rights of survivorship are included and when they are excluded from legal title to property.

Our common law system has come a long way from the times when the primary way to prove ownership was possession.  However, even legal title can become problematic when ownership is shared or joint and there is no written agreement explaining each tenant's or owner's rights.