| Court: | WI Supreme Court |
| Facts: | Musa incurs a debt at Segelke's hardware store. They get a judgment against him, but do not execute it. Then Musa dies. Finally, they get around to executing it, but of course he no longer owns the property-- it all went to his wife via joint tenancy. |
| Posture: | Presumably an appeal from a finding for Mrs. Musa. |
| Issue: | Are lien rights to an estate in joint tenancy defeated by the death of the debtor? |
| Holding: | Yes. |
| Rule: | If you want to sever assets from a joint tenancy, you need to do it while it still exists. |
| Reasoning: | Once a joint tenant dies, he's got no remaining interest in the estate. It all goes to the other tenant. The store had no judgment against Mrs. Musa. They should have gone for severance earlier. |
| Dicta: | |