Answer to Question 1
Concurrent ownership
The county denied Hennefield and O'Dell's claim, and they appealed to a state trial court, which held that their attempted re-conveyance was not effective. The court explained that, among other things, a tenancy by the entirety can only exist between husband and wife. Thus, for example, a conveyance of real estate to a man and woman, who are not lawfully husband and wife at the time of the conveyance, cannot create a tenancy by the entirety. Here, the Plaintiffs have not persuaded this court that a same-sex couple should be treated any differently in this regard. For this reason, the Plaintiffs own' the subject property as joint tenants with right of survivorship. (Under the state's Domestic Partnership Act, however, the court awarded the plaintiffs a 100-percent exemption, treating the Plaintiffs' ownership interest in the subject property in the same fashion as is accorded to married couples, in accord with other tax exemptions that were made specifically applicable to domestic partners under the act. The court added, This ruling should not be interpreted as equating, or otherwise eliminating any distinction between, property held by same-sex domestic partners as joint ten-ants with right of survivorship, and property held by married couples as tenants by the entirety.)
Answer to Question 2
a