My response:
At one time, a "strawman" conveyance was the only way a joint tenant could unilaterally sever a real property joint tenancy and still retain his or her ownership interest: One joint tenant conveyed his or her interest to a third person (so-called "strawman"), followed by a reconveyance back to the conveying joint tenant. The strawman conveyance severed the real property joint tenancy as to all of the former joint tenants, creating a tenancy in common among them.
IAAL