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Thought you'd be interested in this excerpt from a different thread since it concerns the aspect of joint tenancy/rights of survivorship that we've been discussing about the Peterson home:

"...After his arrest, Peterson gave his parents power of attorney. That does not mean they can sell the house, however.

The title is in both names: Scott's and Laci's.

Generally speaking, in a joint tenancy, when one of the joint tenants dies, the property is divided up to the surviving tenants, said Dewey Weiford, Stanislaus Division president of Stewart Title of California. "However, the surviving joint tenant cannot be the cause of the deceased's death," he said.

Weiford noted that if a death certificate lists the cause of death as unknown or involving violence, the title and sales process is halted and the situation investigated.

Under the state Probate Code, if a joint tenant feloniously and intentionally kills another joint tenant, "the killer has no rights by survivorship." (end excerpt)