- 11 - law joint tenancy in that each spouse owns the whole and, therefore, is entitled to enjoyment of the entirety and to survivorship rights, it differs in that neither person has an individual portion which can be alienated or separated, or which can be reached by the creditors of either spouse. See Meyer's Estate (No. 1), supra at 92, 81 A. at 146. Each spouse is seized of the whole of the property rather than any divisible part of the property. Even though each spouse may have a right to possession of the entire property, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has held that this right cannot be exercised at the expense of the other spouse. Lindenfelser v. Lindenfelser, 396 Pa. 530, 153 A.2d 901 (1959). Each party to a tenancy by the entirety is entitled to equal use, enjoyment, and possession of the property so held, and, if necessary, this right may be enforced by injunctive order. Id. In Pennsylvania, one spouse may maintain an action in equity against the other to enforce his or her rights in a tenancy by the entirety, where one spouse wrongfully excludes the other from any form of possession. Mower v. Mower, 387 Pa. 325, 328, 80 A.2d 856, 858 (1957); Brobst v. Brobst, 384 Pa. 530, 532, 121 A.2d 178, 180 (1956). Consequently, we conclude that under Pennsylvania law the interest of petitioner wife in the King of Prussia property is equal to that of petitioner husband and cannot be ignored.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011