Does a husband have a right to mortgage his interest in a jointly owned property?

The decision in Hiles v. Fisher (supra) is a leading case on this subject. It was there held that husband and wife are tenants in common of the use, rents, and profits of the realty held by the entirety, with power in each to dispose of his or her interest therein. This deals with the rents, profits, and control of the estate during coverture, leaving the estate otherwise untouched as to its other common-law incidents. It is there said (p. 316): "The husband had a right to mortgage his interest, which was a right to the use of an undivided half of the estate during the joint lives and to the fee in case he survived his wife, and by the foreclosure and sale the plaintiff acquired this interest and became a tenant in common with the wife of the premises subject to her right of survivorship." (Italics supplied.) This must necessarily mean a tenancy in common with the wife as to the rents, issues, and profits of the real property formerly held by the entirety by husband and wife, and a peculiar, special, and limited tenancy in common as to the fee

[198 Misc. 809]