A man and his sister inherited land from their mother. They owned the property as joint tenants with a right of survivorship (meaning that upon the death of one of them the survivor would inherit the other’s interest and thus own the property outright). When the man borrowed money from his sister-in-law, he executed a promissory note and a deed giving his interest in the property as security for the debt. When the man died, his sister-in-law sought repayment of the note and claimed that the deed to secure the debt had severed the joint tenancy with right of survivorship. The trial court declared the man’s sister to be the sole owner of the property, and the sister-in-law appealed.

The Georgia Supreme Court decided1 that a “security deed” such as this one was nothing more than a lien, conveying legal title only for the purposes of security, not ownership. The court held that a deed to secure debt did not sever a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and thus the effect of the man’s death was that his sister, as surviving joint tenant, became the sole owner, and the property did not go to his estate. The man’s death terminated his interest in the property, and thus extinguished the security interest held by his sister-in-law.