Estates And Interests Flashcards
What is the most complete ownership recognized by law?
Fee Simple Estate - owner is entitled to all rights in the property
What is qualified fee estate?
Sometimes a gift or sale provides that the real property must be used for a specific purpose.
Ex. The deed that transfers the property might state that Smith gives the land “to the Jones Foundation so long as it is used for a wildlife preserve.” If the Jones Foundation later builds a corporate headquarters on the land, ownership will automatically revert to Smith (or Smith’s heirs); the Jones Foundation owned only a qualified fee
What is life estate?
This is limited to the life of some specific person. Owner doesn’t have right to pass ownership to heirs, life estate ends with the death of the owner or 3rd party.
What is ordinary life estate?
Last as long as the owner, the life tenant is alive
What is life estate pur autre vie?
Last as long as a particular third party (named by original owner) is alive.
What are the bundle of rights? Or rights of ownership?
Possession Control of property Enjoyment Exclusion Disposition
What are littoral rights?
owners whose land borders large lakes, bays, and oceans. They may enjoy unrestricted use of the water but own the land only up to the high-water mark
All land below this point is owned by the government.
What is subsurface rights?
Rights to the natural resources lying below the earth’s surface, may be owned separately.
What is riparian rights?
In New York, persons owning land bordering non-navigable streams own the property to the midpoint of the stream.
Those whose land borders navigable streams own the property to the high-water mark (the limit of the rise of medium tides); the riverbed belongs to the state
What does the owner in a condominium receive?
Two or more condominium ownership interests are created in the land by the developer who retains the commercial spaces and
the condominium association on behalf of the residential units of the property.
Each owner receives a deed for their fee simple ownership interest in the property
What are the three forms of ownership?
(1) tenancy in common
(2) joint tenancy
(3) tenancy by the entirety (a special type of joint tenancy).
Define tenancy in common
Owns an undivided interest in the property.
If no fractions are stated, each owns an equal share. For example, if five people hold title, each would own an undivided one-fifth interest. On the death of a co-owner, the deceased’s interest would pass to heirs or devisees named in the owner’s will (and the tenancy in common would continue)
second important characteristic of a tenancy in common is that each owner may sell, convey, mortgage, or transfer that interest without the consent of the other co-owners.
In New York, a conveyance (sale or gift) to persons not married to each other automatically creates a tenancy in common unless otherwise stated in the deed. Property inherited by two or more persons is owned by them as tenants in common unless the will states otherwise.
When an unmarried couple buys a home together, they have a decision to make. If one dies, should that person’s share go to heirs named in a will or, if there is no will, to what the state calls natural heirs: spouse, parents, siblings, children? If so, they will take title as tenants in common. If, however, they would like the surviving partner to become complete owner automatically, their deed should make it clear they are taking title as joint tenants.
Define joint tenancy
Property is owned by a group made up of two or more persons. The death of one of the joint tenants simply means there is one fewer person in the group. The remaining joint tenants automatically receive the share owned by the deceased tenant, by right of survivorship, no matter what that person’s will might have ordered.
Only the last survivor, who becomes sole owner, may dispose of the property by will to that person’s heirs
Define tenancy by the entirety (a special type of joint tenancy).
Between spouses. (It is used in New York, but not in all states.)
The owners must be married when they receive the property.
They have rights of survivorship (automatically pass to other owners when one owner dies), but there is no right to partition (co-owners who seek to terminate their interests by utilizing the appropriate court to force the sale of the property).
In New York, a conveyance to a married couple automatically creates in them a tenancy by the entirety unless the deed specifies otherwise. Divorce breaks a tenancy by the entirety, and the ex-spouses immediately become tenants in common.
How to end a tenants in common or joint tenants?
May file in court a suit to partition the land. The right of partition is a legal way to end co-ownership when the parties do not agree.
If the court determines that the land cannot be physically divided (acreage, for example), it will order the real estate sold and the proceeds divided among the co-owners.
