Ownership Rights in Property

Question 1

Title

Answer 1

The term title describes the scope of ownership of private property, and how one holds title to property impacts flexibility in how it is managed and used.

Question 2

More about Titles

Answer 2

Title determines whether property may serve as collateral for a loan, whether it can be leased to others, sold for gain, and gifted for charity or support, and devised or bequeathed for continuation of family wealth and legacy. Title is also your relationship to the value of the property, and thus the incentive to preserve and protect that value. In a sense, title is also descriptive of your responsibility for the liabilities it brings in its relationship to the public at large, because when people are injured by or on your property, your title may define your responsibility for their injury.

Question 3

Classification of Property

Answer 3

Property is divided into two classes: real property and personal property

Question 4

Real Property Rights

Answer 4

Real property consists of the land, the airspace above the surface, and the subsurface.
rights to use water (riparian rights), rights to harvest standing timber, leases to use and occupy, and air, surface and subsurface easement and mineral rights, all of which are severable

Question 5

Personal Property

Answer 5

Personal property is everything that is not real property, such as cash, farm equipment and tools, livestock, nursery stock, cut timber, and household items like cars, jewelry, bank accounts, stocks and bonds.

Tangible property possesses its value in its physical form, such as a gold bar, a cow, a tractor, or a gun.

Question 6

Analogy for Titles

Answer 6

All first-year law students are taught the analogy that title to a parcel of land is like a bundle of sticks, with each stick representing a separate and severable right. Each stick may be transferred in whole or singly, sometimes to join the bundle of sticks of a separate parcel.

Question 7

Law of Tenancy

Answer 7

How one holds title in real property is referred at law as a tenancy, from the Latin word tenir, “to hold.” The extent of one’s tenancy is called an estate, from the Old French estat, descriptive of a place relative to others. Your tenancy is how you presently possess or hold property, and your estate describes your tenancy rights relative to those of others, if any, whether held at the same time as you, or known to be held at a later time.

Question 8

Documentation of Property

Answer 8

The manner in which one acquires, possesses and disposes of property depends on its classification

Question 9

Sole Ownership

Answer 9

Sole ownership is the simplest form of property ownership, where one person has all present and future power to use, control, sell or otherwise dispose of the property.

Question 10

Life Estate

Answer 10

A life estate is a transfer of title to real property to a person whose title takes effect at the death of the grantor. One who creates a life estate is called the life tenant. The life tenant has the right to possess and use the property for their life or (more rarely) the life of another specified person. The life tenant’s estate ends upon the death of that person, whereupon the right of possession vests in the person who is the grantee of the property

Question 11

Life Tenant rights

Answer 11

The life tenant has the right to plant, harvest and sell annual crops. The life tenant does not have the right to open new mines or quarries, but can receive their incomes and profits.

Question 12

Life Tenant Property Responsibilities

Answer 12

The life tenant is responsible for taking care of the property and for making ordinary repairs, and must pay property taxes and local assessments. If the property is mortgaged when it comes to the life tenant, the life tenant is responsible for paying the annual interest on the debt, but not the principal.

Question 13

Example of Life Estate Appointment

Answer 13

An example of words in a will or deed that create a life estate can be “to my wife for so long as she lives, remainder to my nephew, James.” The wife has the right to possess and use the property for her lifetime, and upon her death, the property passes to James as the sole owner.

Question 14

Concurrent Interests

Answer 14

If one inherits real property along with siblings or others, they own a concurrent interest in the property along with the others. Concurrent ownership means the rights of all owners occur at the same time.

Question 15

Concurrent Ownership 3 types:

Answer 15

Concurrent ownership of property takes one of three general forms: tenancy in common, joint tenancy with a right of survivorship, or tenancy by the entireties.

Question 16

Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship

Answer 16

Two or more persons may own property as joint tenants with right of survivorship. This is common for bank accounts, certificates of deposit and stock certificates, particularly where an elderly parent wishes these interests to pass outside of probate, or they wish to have their money—in the case of a bank account—readily accessible by a chosen child to immediately handle matters following their death. Real property may also be owned jointly with a right of survivorship. To create a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, the document of title —the deed—must expressly say the property is held with the survivorship right (the absence of such language simply creates a co-tenancy). However, joint tenancy is not common outside of marriage (see below).

Question 17

Tenancy by the Entirety

Answer 17

Only a husband and wife may own real property as tenants by the entirety. Under the law, each spouse owns the entire interest in the property, but neither spouse may sell, lease or mortgage the property without the written consent of the other.

Question 18

Tenancy Entirety w/t Divorce

Answer 18

Divorce automatically ends a tenancy by the entirety,15 and the property is then owned by the ex-spouses as tenants-in-common.

Question 19

Separation but not Divorced Rights

Answer 19

The couple separate, but do not file for divorce, and the children have become estranged from their mother. During the separation, the children convince their father to execute a new will, leaving them his interest in the farm. The father dies, and the children triumphantly present their mother with a copy of his will. The mother consults a knowledgeable lawyer, who simple tells her, “It doesn’t matter: the moment your husband died, you became 100% owner of the farm, there is no interest in the farm for your children to inherit.”