Interests in Real Estate Flashcards
What are the two types of interests in real estate?
Freehold interests & Non-freehold interests
Freehold Interests
Ownership (you own an house)
Non-freehold Interests
Possessory (like a rental)
What are the three types of freehold estates?
Fee simple absolute, fee simple defeasible, & life estates
Fee simple absolute
Default form of ownership.
Own property absolutely; cannot lose it.
Fee simple defeasible
Something can cause you to lose ownership either by determinable means (you automatically lose the property due to a deed violation) or subject to a condition (subsequent action to take property(like a lawsuit)).
Life estates
Fee simple ownership for as long as you or a named person lives.
Habendum Clause
“To have and to hold.”
Names who will receive the property after you pass away.
What is a life estate “reversion”?
A=Grantor B=Owner
A) gives property to (B). (B) owns property until they die. Once (B) dies, the property ownership reverts back to (A
What is a life estate “remainder”?
A=Grantor B=Owner C=Remainderman
(A) grants property to (B). (B) has ownership until they die. When (B) dies, ownership goes to (C).
*(C) can be anyone named by (A).
What is a life estate “pur autre vie”?
A=Grantor B=Owner C=Remainderman D=3rd party
A) grants property to (B). (B) has ownership until (D) dies. Once (D) dies, the property ownership goes to (C
When purchasing a property what must you do in terms of buying a property when there is a life estate attached to it?
You need to make sure the life estate goes away. Extra paperwork, but nothing extensive. The parties have to agree.
Homestead Act
Protection of a family home from creditors. while you are alive, creditors cannot take your property.
Dower Rights
Say a spouse passes away. They owned the property and didn’t leave anything to the living spouse. These rights allow for the living spouse to have up to 1/3 of the deceased spouse’s real estate.
*Not used in MA.
Severalty
Ownership by 1 person.
Co-ownership
Ownership by 2 or more people.
What are the three types of co ownership?
- Tenancy in common
- Joint tenancy
- Tenancy by the entirety
Tenancy in common
Default form of co-ownership
Inheritable
Example: A group of friends (A, B, &C) buy a piece of property together. (A) dies, then their share of the property is inherited by (A’s) children.
*can sell their share as well.
Joint tenancy
Not the default form of co-ownership.
All parties must: (1) acquire ownership at the same time as the others. (2) all be on the same deed. (3) specify joint ownership.
There is an element of “survivorship”; meaning this type of ownership is not inheritable.
Example: A group of friends (A, B, &C) buy a piece of property together. (A) dies, then their share goes to (B) & (C) equally.
What is the “hybrid” of joint tenancy and tenancy in common.
Say A, B, & C buy a piece of property together. They are joint tenants. Lets say (B) decides to sell their interest in the property to (D). (D) cannot be a joint tenant w/ (A) & (C) because (D) bought in at a separate time on a separate deed. (D) becomes a tenant in common, while (A) & (C) are still joint tenants with each other.
- If (D) passes away, their interests go to their heirs.
- If (C) dies, their interests go to (A). Then (A) owns 2/3 of the property and (D) owns 1/3.
- If (A) dies, their interests go to (C). Then (C) owns 2/3 of the property and (D) owns 1/3.
Tenancy by the entirety
Joint tenancy for married couples.
Offers credit protections:
-Automatic homestead
-Against forced sale for debts of one spouse only.
On divorce, automatically becomes a tenancy in common, unless specified otherwise.
Condominium
Joint ownership of common areas & fee simple ownership of units.
Master Deed
What makes a building a condo, but it sub-divides the building into legally separate properties.