How is a joint tenancy terminated?

A joint tenancy refers to a form of ownership in which two or more people hold equal shares in a property with the right of survivorship. The key characteristic of joint tenancy is the requirement of the four unities: time, title, interest, and possession. For a joint tenancy to remain intact, all four of these unities must be present.

When one of the four unities is destroyed, the joint tenancy terminates and is converted into a tenancy in common. This can occur, for example, if one joint tenant transfers their interest to another party, which destroys the unity of title. Without all four unities, the essence of joint tenancy is lost, and thus the relationship between the original joint tenants is severed.

While the death of a joint tenant typically results in the remaining joint tenants absorbing the deceased's interest (due to the right of survivorship), it doesn’t terminate the joint tenancy. Legal action can also be a means to partition or dissolve a joint tenancy but is not a direct terminating event in itself. Moreover, transferring ownership to a non-joint tenant would indeed disrupt the unity of title but must be understood in the context of the broader concept of unities.

Therefore, the correct answer focuses on the critical concept that the