Chapter 07 Flashcards
Police power
The states power to preserve order, protect the public health and safety, and promote general welfare
Condemnation
The process of the government exercising eminent domain
Escheat
The state or county taking real or personal property when someone dies without a will or legal heirs
Estate in land
The degree, quantity, nature and extent of an owner’s interest in real property.
Must be measured according to time
Freehold Estate
Last forever and can be passed down through generations
Estates
An ownership that can be transferred using a deed
Fee simple estate aka fee simple absolute
Ownership in which holder is entitled to all rights to the property.
The highest interest in real estate recognized by law.
Fee simple defeasible
An estate that is subject to occurrence or nonoccurrence.
- Fee simple determinable
- Fee simple subsequent
Fee simple determinable
Owner gives property and rights to person or organization as long as X is happening. If X stops happening, heirs can reclaim property without going to court
Fee and simple subject to condition subsequent
Owner gives property and rights to person or organization as long as X doesn’t happen. If X does happen, heirs can reclaim property but they must go to court
Future interest
A persons right and interest in real property that will not result in possession or enjoyment until sometime in the future
Life estate
An estate based o the lifetime of a person. Estate ends when person dies
Pur Autre Vie
A life estate that is based on the life of a third party and not the life of a tenant.
Often created for people who are physically or mentally incapacitated in the hope to create incentive for someone to take care of them
Remainder and Reversion
The fee simple owner who creates a life estate must plan for its future ownership when it ends. It’s then replaced with a fee simple ownership in one of two ways.
- Remainder interest
- Reversionary interest
Revisionary interest
When a life estate ends, the estate is said to revert to original owner
Remainder interest
The owner of a life estate may name a “remainderman” and the property will pass to the remainderman when the life estate ends
Enabling acts
The states power being passes down to municipalities
Doctrine of prior appropriation
In states where water is scarce, this limits the use with the exception of domestic use
Accretion, erosion, and avuision
Accretion: land that grows due to waterways depositing earth.
Erosion: The slow reduction of land due to waterways.
Avuision: the immediate reduction of land due to earthquakes, mudslides, ext…
Littoral Rights
Water rights of land owners that Boarded navigable water ways
Riparian Rights
Water rights of owners of land that board non-navigable waterways ( waterways unsuitable for commercial boat traffic).
Encumbrances
- A claim, charge, or liability that attaches to real estate.
A right or interest held by someone other then the owner.
Two Classifications:
Liens Encumbrances ( restrictions, easements, licenses, and encroachments)
Lien
A charge against property that provides security for a debt or obligation.
- Real estate taxes
- Mortgages
Legal Life Estate
A form of life estate established by state law. Becomes automatic when events occur.
- Dower
- Curtesy
- Homestead
Dower
The life estate that a wife has after husband dies.
Curtesy
The life estate the a husband has after a wife dies.
Homestead
Land that is owned and legally occupied that is protected from legal judgments and debts.
Excluding property taxes and mortgages.
Easements
The right to use the land of another for a particular purpose.
Appurtenant easement
An easement attached to the ownership of one parcel and allows this owner the use of a neighbors land.
- Servient Tenement: the parcel over which the easement runs through.
- Dominant Tenement: the parcel that benefits.
Easement by Necessity
One sells a parcel of land that has no access to a street except over the sellers remaining land.
- Created by court order
Easement by Perscription
If a claimant has made use of another’s land for a certain length of time. time determined by the state.
- Claimant must be using it continuously.
- Owner must be aware
Easement Gross
An individual or company’s interest in the right to use someone else’s property.
- Commercial easements in gross may be transferred.
- Personal easements in gross generally terminated upon death of easement owner
Terminating an easement
- When need no longer exist
- When owner of dominant or Servient tenement becomes the owner of both.
- The release of right to Servient tenement
- The abandonment of easement
- The nonuse of Prescriptive easement
Encroachments
When a structure illegally extends beyond the property line.
License
A personal privilege to enter the land of another for a specific purpose.
Deed Restrictions
A private restriction that affect the uses of the land places in the deed by a previous owner.
Covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R)
Private agreements that affect land use. Typically imposed by a developer or subdivider to maintain a specific standard.
