The Law & Real Property Flashcards
his concept of land ownership by the king, with rights granted to others in return for services, is considered the feudal system of land ownership.
The interest held on the condition of performing services was referred to as a fief, fee, or feud.
The holding of the property in return for services to be rendered was called a tenure, so the person holding the property came to be called a tenant.
At the time, the fee holder was considered a freeman, and his interest in the property was called a freehold.
The allodial system is the system of ownership that allows land to be owned and controlled by individuals.
Freehold estates are those of indefinite ownership.
A freehold estate may be in the form of a:
Fee (or fee simple) estate, which includes the right to pass the property to others by will; or
A life estate, which does not include the right of inheritance.
Fee simple ownership may be limited by encumbrances that give others rights in the property.
Encumbrances would include:
Private restrictions, covenants, or conditions that limit uses of the property;
Easements that provide others with irrevocable rights to use the property; or
Liens that give others the right to foreclose against the property if the owner does not pay a debt owed.
Freehold estates are estates of ownership that last indefinitely for one or more lifetimes or in perpetuity. They are considered real property interests. They include fee simple absolute, qualified or fee simple defeasible, and life estates.
Leasehold estates (nonfreehold) are estates of possession that last for a temporary period of time. These estates involve the lease or rental of real estate. They include estate for years, periodic estate, estate at will, and estate at sufferance.
The most common type of freehold estate is the fee simple absolute estate. Ninety-nine percent of real estate transactions involve the transfer of a fee simple absolute estate.
The term “absolute” means that the estate cannot be taken from the estate holder due to any event other than the estate holder’s death without any living heirs. There are no conditions imposed on the estate. Unless there are words to state that there are conditions placed on the estate, a fee simple estate is an absolute estate.
A qualified fee estate (also called a conditional fee, a defeasible fee, or fee simple defeasible estate) is an estate of potentially unlimited duration and does not terminate upon the death of the owner.
However, the estate has certain qualifications (conditions) and a reversionary interest, meaning that the estate may revert back to the grantor if the qualifications or conditions are not met.
Freehold estates might also be noninheritable. Noninheritable freehold estates are called life estates.
a life tenant can convey only those rights he or she has.
If the life tenant sells, mortgages, or leases the property, the transaction is effective only to the end of the term of the life estate, and the sale, mortgage, or lease terminates automatically upon termination of the life estate.
When a life estate terminates, there are two possibilities.
The first possibility is that title of the property will revert (go back) to the grantor who created the life estate in the deed, or to his or her heirs, or to the heirs of the devisee who created the life estate in a will. This process is known as reversion, with the rights of ownership returning to the grantor who created the life estate.
The second possibility when a life estate terminates is that the deed or will provides that, upon termination of the life estate, the title will pass to a specified third party. That third party, called a remainderman, holds a remainder interest or estate in remainder during the entire term of the life estate.
