willed property

[mikereyes]

my parents live in the state of kansas,my stepfather just recently passed away.all property
house,land and cars have both names on deeds and
titles.can any of this jointly owned property be
willed to someone else?if so what steps have to be taken.

 

[JETX]

Depending on the form that the titles are in (joint ownership, right of survivorship, etc.), the best that could be done would be for the decedents SHARE of the property to become an asset of HIS estate. For example, in the case of joint ownership, 50% of the property would be 'owned' by the surviving co-owner and the remainder, an asset of the decedents estate. As such, the estate ownership only would be subject to probate.
The will of the decedent cannot transfer the property not completely owned by him.

Of interest:
http://www.keln.org/bibs/morrill.html
http://www.ksbar.org/kansas_bar_association___joint.shtml