Fundamentals | Unit 5 Flashcards
Eminent Domain
Government acquires privately owned land for public use
Escheat
The reversion of property to the state when an owner dies with no will and no heirs
Estate in Land
The degree, quantity, nature, and extent of interest a person holds
Freehold Estates
Ownership for an indefinite duration
Leasehold (Nonfreehold)
Possession for a fixed term
Fee Simple Absolute
Most complete bundle of rights. Maximum ownership estate in real property. Last indefinitely as if transferable and inheritable
Fee Simple Defeasible
Created by a deed condition, often a gift. Lasts so long as the deed condition is not violated. If a deed condition is violated, may revert to grantor (or heirs).
Transferable and Inheritable
Life Estate
Grantor grants life state to grantee.
Grantor maintains reversionary interest.
When grantee dies, ownership is reverted back to grantor.
Conventional Life Estate
Can be established by the owner in deed or will.
Estate is conveyed to life tenant.
Life tenant has full ownership until the death of the person against whose life the estate is measured.
At this point, the life tenant’s rights cease and the ownership passes as a fee simple estate to another designated individual or returns to the previous owner.
Pur Autre Vie (for the life of another)
A life estate based on the lifetime of a person other than the life tenant.
A life estate pur autre vie provides for inheritance by the life tenant’s heirs only until the death of the third party.
Usually created for people who are physically or mentally incapacitated in the hope of providing incentive for someone to care for them.
Reversionary Interest
Creator of the life estate may choose not to name a remainderman.
In this case, ownership reverts to the original owner upon the end of the life estate.
Remainder Interest
Creator of the life estate may name a remainderman as the person to whom the property will pass when the life estate ends.
Legal Life Estate
Not created voluntarily by an owner. It is a form of life estate established by state law.
Becomes effective automatically when certain event occurs
Encumbrance
A claim, charge, or liability that attached to real estate
Appurtenant Easement
Involved two adjacent and separately owned tracts.
Benefited tract = dominant tenement
Tract subject to easemenet = servient tenement
Riparian Rights
Gives the owner of land adjacent to a non-navigable stream ownership of the land to the stream’s midpoint
Littoral Rights
Held by owners of land bordering commercially navigable lakes and oceans and include rights to the water and ownership of the land up to the mean high-water mark.
Doctrine of Prior Appropriation
Used in states where water is scarce to decide water use
Leasehold Estate | Estate for Years
Runs for a specific length of time
Leasehold Estate | Estate from Period to Period
Runs for an indefinite period period (year to year, month to month)
Leasehold Estate | Estate at Will
Runs as long as the landlord permits
The death of either party terminates an estate at will
Leasehold Estate | Estate at Sufferance
Possession without consent of the landlord
Reliction
The increase of land due to the gradual receding of a body of water or, in this case, a gradual shift in the course of the river.
Avulsion
The sudden loss of land, due to a flood or a tropical storm
Erosion
The gradual wearing away of the land by natural forces
Accretion
The natural action of water can increase or diminish the amount of land owned
State’s Enabling Acts
Every state has the power to enact legislation to preserve order, protect the public health and safety and to promote the general welfare of its citizens (i.e., police power).
Most complete bundle of rights. Maximum ownership estate in real property. Last indefinitely as if transferable and inheritable
Fee Simple Absolute
Created by a deed condition, often a gift. Lasts so long as the deed condition is not violated. If a deed condition is violated, may revert to grantor (or heirs).
Transferable and Inheritable
Fee Simple Defeasible
Grantor grants life state to grantee.
Grantor maintains reversionary interest.
When grantee dies, ownership is reverted back to grantor.
Life Estate
Can be established by the owner in deed or will.
Estate is conveyed to life tenant.
Life tenant has full ownership until the death of the person against whose life the estate is measured.
At this point, the life tenant’s rights cease and the ownership passes as a fee simple estate to another designated individual or returns to the previous owner.
Conventional Life Estate
A life estate based on the lifetime of a person other than the life tenant.
A life estate pur autre vie provides for inheritance by the life tenant’s heirs only until the death of the third party.
Usually created for people who are physically or mentally incapacitated in the hope of providing incentive for someone to care for them.
Pur Autre Vie
Creator of the life estate may choose not to name a remainderman.
In this case, ownership reverts to the original owner upon the end of the life estate.
Reversionary Interest
Creator of the life estate may name a remainderman as the person to whom the property will pass when the life estate ends.
Remainder Interest
Not created voluntarily by an owner. It is a form of life estate established by state law.
Becomes effective automatically when certain event occurs
Legal Life Estate
The increase of land due to the gradual receding of a body of water or, in this case, a gradual shift in the course of the river.
Reliction
The sudden loss of land, due to a flood or a tropical storm
Avulsion
The gradual wearing away of the land by natural forces
Erosion
The natural action of water can increase or diminish the amount of land owned
Accretion
