Joint Account Registrations
Joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) passes a deceased owner's interest automatically to the survivor(s); tenants in common (TIC) passes the deceased's stated percentage to their estate instead.
The exam loves the death scenario: an owner dies and you must say who inherits. The tell is the registration acronym in the stem — JTWROS routes everything to the surviving owner outside probate, while TIC sends the decedent’s share to that owner’s estate (so a TIC heir can be a child or business partner, not the co-owner). A second favorite tests the mechanics of a living account: any one tenant may place orders or request a withdrawal, but distribution checks and securities must be issued to ALL owners, never to one alone. Watch for the trap that one owner can pocket a check solo — they cannot.
Don’t confuse a joint account with a custodial UGMA/UTMA (one custodian, one minor, no co-owners) or with discretionary authority (a rep trading on prior written authorization). A joint owner trades by virtue of ownership, not delegated power. Memory hook: “Survivor takes all” = JTWROS; “Tenants split, estate gets a Cut” = TIC.
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