Chap 48 Real Property Flashcards
freehold estates
exist for some indeterminate period of time, which could be forever
types of freehold estates
fee estates
life estates
future interests consist of reversions and remainders
fee estates types
fee simple absolute
fee simple defeasible, base, qualified or conditional fee
fee simple absolute
no strings attached
can transfer by sale, will, descent, distribution or gift
created as: G–“To A in fee simple absolute” or G–“To A forever”
fee simple defeasible, base, qualified or conditional fee
ownership may be lost by occurrence of the condition placed on ownership
in these cases, if the condition is violated, the property will revert back to the grantor or grantors heirs. the grantor or his heirs thus possesses a possibility of reverter
possibility of reverter
could revert back to grantor
in fee simple defeasible
condition is always there unless death ends it
types of life estates
conventional
life estates established by law
conventional life estate
created by act of grantor
G–“To A for life” upon death of A, the property will revert back to the grantor or the grantors heirs
G–“To A for the life of B” here, B’s life is the measuring life. upon the death of B, As life estate is extinguished and the property will revert back to the grantor or his heirs
types of conventional
life estates with vested remainders
life estates with contingent remainders
life estates with vested remainders
G–“To A for life, and then to B” upon the death of A, the remainder will vest in B as a fee simple absolute
life estates with contingent remainders
G–“To A for life, and then to B if B marries” a has a life estate and B has a contingent remainder
B will receive the fee simple absolute if he gets married. If B does not get married, the property will revert back to the grantor or his heirs
G–“To A for life, and then to B if B has a child. if B dies without a child, then to C” the life estate in A is extinguished upon A’s death and B and C both have contingent remainders, Bs remainder is contingent on him having a child and Cs remainder is contingent on B dying without having a child
life estates established by law
lw put there, not by grantor
2 types: dower and curtesy
dower
the value of a life estate in 1/3 of the real property owned by the husband during the marriage
the value of the life estate is computed by using mortality tables based on the wifes age
curtesy
the value of a life estate s 1/3 of the real property owned by the wife during the marriage
the husband is only entitled to curtesy is a child was born of the marriage. like dower, the value of the life estate is computed by using mortality tables based on the husbands age
is there dower in personal property
no
futures interests consist of reversions and remainders
a reversion may or may not occur, depending on whether a condition is violated or whether no grant is provided beyond a life estate or the condition for the grant does not occur
for example in grant “To A provided the property is used only for park purposes” the grantor or his heirs may have the property revert back to them if the property is ever used for a non park purpose. thus, the grantor or his heirs have a possibility of reverter.
in a grant “To A for life” the grantor or his heirs have a reversion. they will receive back the property, the only question is when
in a grant to “A for life and then to B” B has a vested remainder. although B has a present interest, his use of the property is postponed to a future date. in a grant “to A for life and then to B if B is married” B has a contingent remainder and the grantor or the grantors heirs have a possibility of reverter
non free hold estates
leasehold estates
non free hold estates
leasehold estates
concurrent ownership
the two major types of concurrent ownership are tenancy in common and joint tenancy. upon the death of a tenant in common, his ownership interest passes to his heirs. upon the death of a joint tenant, his ownership passes to the remaining joint tenants.
ohio law requires
the term survivorship to be present to create joint tenancy
thus, the language must indicate “with right of survivorship” or “for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them”
in the absence of survivorship language, Ohio
will construe the tenancy as a tenancy in common and not a joint tenancy
some sates require that to create a joint tenancy language such as “joint tenants and not as tenants in common” must be present
most states merely require that the tenancy be specified as joint tenancy
4 unities for a joint tenancy
- time - the interests of the joint tenants must occur at the same point of time
- title - the interests of the joint tenants must be created for the same instrument
- interest - the interests of the joint tenants must be equal
- possession - each of the joint tenants must have the equal rights to possession of the property
for a tenancy in common
there need only be the unity of possession
tenancy by entireties
this tenancy has the same survivorship element as a joint tenancy
it also requires the previously mentioned unities plus one other element i.e. for a tenancy by the entireties to exist, the tenants must be married to each other
easements
an easement is a nonpossessory interest in land, i.e. a right to use land owner by another
easements are either appurtenant (run with the land) or in gross (i.e. a personal right similar to a mere license)
easements may be created by
express grant express reservation implied grant implied reservation necessity prescription dedication
express grant
eg a grantor owns parcels A and B. he sells parcel B to the grantee and grants the grantee who now owns parcel B a right of ingress and egress over parcel A to access a roadway which is adjacent to parcel A. parcel B is the dominant parcel and parcel A is the servient parcel as A serves B
express reservation
eg a grantor owns parcels A and B. he sells parcel A to the grantee and reserves to himself, the grantor (who now owns only parcel B) a right of ingress and egress over parcel A to access a roadway that is adjacent to parcel !
implied grant
eg a grantor owns parcels A and B. there is a one car width driveway which is situated half on A and half on B and gives access to the parcels. the grantor sells parcel B to the grantee. the law would state that the grantor impliedly grants to the grantee and easement over the half of the driveway which is situated on A
implied reservation
eg a grantor owns parcels A and B. there is a one car width driveway which is situated half on A and half on B and gives access to the parcels. the grantor sells parcel B to the grantee. the law would state that the grantor impliedly reserves to himself, i.e. the grantor, an easement over the half of the driveway which is situated on the grantors parcel A
necessity
eg a grantor owns parcels A and B. a roadway abuts parcel A. the grantor sells parcel B to the grantee. Parcel B is bordered to the North by parcel C; to the east by parcelD and to the south by parcel E. the grantee who now owns parcel B is landlocked. the law will thus grant an easement by necessity to the owner of parcel B, over parcel A which is owned by the grantor. the law will not, however, grant an easement to the owner of parcel B over parcels C, D, or E because the owners of those parcels did not cause the owner of parcel B to be landlocked
prescription
the owner of parcel B drives his car over his neighbors parcel. this occurs for a period of 20 years (21 in Ohio). this is also done in an open, notorious and hostile manner. after 20 years, the owner of parcel B will have acquired an easement by prescription over parcel A
also tacking may occur, this means that even though the owners of the parcel may change hands, new owners of parcel b can add the previous owners time to their own when determining if the statutory period has been met
dedication
when a developer subdivides land into parcels and puts in roadways and sidewalks, the developer will grant i.e. dedicate those roads and sidewalks to the public
thus the public will have an easement by dedication to use suck for their normal purposes
