United States v. Craft

In United States v. Craft, 535 U.S. 274 , 278 (2002), the Supreme Court, looking to Michigan law, held that a federal tax lien resulting from unpaid taxes attributable to one tenant by the entireties could attach to that tenants interest in entireties property. The Court found that Michigans law of tenancy by the entireties conferred some of the most essential property rights on each tenant: the right to use the property, to receive income produced by it, and to exclude others from it. Craft, 535 U.S. at 283. It also noted that Michigan law gave tenants the right to alienate or otherwise encumber the property with the consent of the other tenant, as well as the right of survivorship. Id. The Court concluded that such essential rights in property enjoyed by tenants by the entireties under Michigan law were rights to property under the federal tax lien statute, and therefore that the federal tax lien there properly attached to the responsible tenants interest in the entireties property.