Real Property & Ownership

This is general common-law property doctrine — the rules that hold across most states, before any state-specific law gets layered on top.

Freehold estates

Fee simple absolute

The most complete form of ownership, with no built-in condition or time limit.

Defeasible fee

Ownership subject to a condition — can end automatically (a fee simple determinable) or require the grantor to affirmatively re-enter (a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent).

Life estate

Ownership measured by a lifetime — the holder's own, or someone else's (pur autre vie).

Future interests

When a life estate or defeasible fee ends, someone else takes over. If that's a third party, it's a remainder. If it's back to the original grantor, it's a reversion.

Co-ownership — how more than one person holds title

Tenancy in common

Two or more owners, each with an individual (possibly unequal) share, no right of survivorship — an owner's share passes to their heirs at death, not automatically to the other co-owners. This is the default form of co-ownership unless the deed specifies otherwise.

Joint tenancy with right of survivorship

Equal shares among all owners, with survivorship — when one owner dies, their share passes automatically to the surviving joint tenants, not through probate. Creating it generally requires satisfying the traditional "four unities" (time, title, interest, and possession all acquired together) and explicit survivorship language in the deed.

Tenancy by the entirety

A marital co-ownership form, recognized in some but not all states, combining survivorship with extra creditor protection — generally, a creditor of only one spouse can't reach the property.

Liens and priority

A lien is a financial claim against property, and when more than one lien exists, priority — who gets paid first if the property is sold to satisfy debts — generally follows the order liens were recorded, with one major exception: property tax liens generally take priority over every other lien regardless of when they were recorded, including a mortgage recorded years earlier. A mechanic's lien (filed by a contractor or supplier owed for work or materials) generally follows its own state-specific priority rules, which can sometimes reach back to when work actually began rather than when the lien was formally filed.

Deeds

A valid deed needs a granting clause, an adequate legal description, and delivery and acceptance. Deed types differ by how much the grantor warrants:

• General warranty — warrants against defects from the property's entire history, even before the grantor owned it.
• Special warranty — warrants only against defects during the grantor's own ownership.
• Bargain-and-sale — implies the grantor holds title, with no express warranties at all.

Easements and adverse possession

An easement is a right to use someone else's land — for a specific person (in gross) or benefiting an adjoining parcel (appurtenant). Adverse possession lets someone eventually gain title to land they don't own, but only by satisfying every element: possession that is open and notorious, hostile (without permission — not actual ill will), exclusive, and continuous for the full statutory period.