CO-OWNERSHIP The law recognizes that several persons can enjoy interest in one land concurrently or successively. In other words, two or more persons can enjoy interest in a parcel of land at the same time, that is, they have concurrent interest known as “co-ownership”. There are two types of co-ownership/concurrent interest, viz: 1. Joint tenancy, and 2. Tenancy in common It is pertinent to state here that the fact that the word “tenancy” is used here does not mean that it has anything to do with a tenant. It is just a technical word. Joint tenancy refers to ownership of land by two or more people without words of severance – e.g. “To Comrade and Osayi”. On the other hand, tenancy in common arises where two or more persons are entitled to a property and words of severance are utilized, e.g. “To Wisdom and Osayi share and share alike” or to “Nosa and Azuwa in equal shares”, to K and J 50/50 or 60/40 as the case may be. Words of severance connote that donees are at liberty to take their separate shares in accordance with the intention of the donor. The simple distinction lies in that in joint tenancy there are no words of severance. Thus a conveyance to a person without more creates a joint tenancy, whereas a conveyance to a person in „equal shares,‟ share and share alike,‟ etc. creates a tenancy in common. In Shonekan v. Smith (1964) NMLR 59, the deed of settlement made a grant of property in Lagos to a trustee “in trust for the said settlor‟s other children who shall be living at the date of the death of the said Ladipo Wright.” The Supreme Court held that the children held as joint tenants, not tenant in common because the grant contained no words of severance. In other words, the children only took an estate for life, not a fee simple estate. The