2.1 Estates, Ownership Forms, Rights, and Interests

Estates in Land

An estate describes the degree, quantity, nature, and extent of a person's interest in real property. The first exam distinction is between freehold estates (ownership of indefinite duration) and leasehold estates (possession for a fixed or determinable term). Freehold is ownership; leasehold is the right to occupy under a lease.

Freehold estates split further into fee simple and life estates. Most exam questions hinge on recognizing which estate a fact pattern describes and what happens when it ends.

Fee Simple and Life Estates

Fee simple absolute is the highest, most complete form of ownership: indefinite duration, fully inheritable, and freely transferable. Fee simple defeasible adds a condition; ownership can be lost if the condition is violated (e.g., "so long as the land is used as a park").

A life estate lasts only for the life of a named person. The holder (life tenant) may use and profit from the land but cannot waste it (commit damage that harms future holders). When the measuring life ends, title passes either to a remainderman (named third party) or back to the grantor by reversion.

• Pur autre vie — a life estate measured by the life of someone other than the holder.
• Remainder — future interest to a third party.
• Reversion — future interest returning to the grantor.

Trap: A life tenant can sell or lease their interest, but the buyer only gets what the life tenant had — the estate still ends at the measuring life's death.

Leasehold Estates

Leasehold (less-than-freehold) estates give possession, not ownership:

Worked example: A two-year written lease beginning Jan 1, 2026 is an estate for years. It expires Dec 31, 2027 with no notice required. If the tenant stays past that date without permission, it becomes an estate at sufferance — the weakest leasehold.

Forms of Co-Ownership

When two or more people hold title together, the form of ownership controls survivorship and transferability.

• Tenancy in common — shares may be unequal; each owner can sell or will their share; no survivorship. Default form for unmarried co-owners.
• Joint tenancy — equal shares with right of survivorship; requires the four unities (Time, Title, Interest, Possession — "T-TIP"). A deceased joint tenant's share passes to survivors, not heirs.
• Tenancy by the entirety — joint tenancy reserved for married couples; neither spouse can convey alone.
• Community property — in nine community-property states, property acquired during marriage is owned equally.

Joint Tenancy Math and Severance

The four unities must all exist for joint tenancy to form. Breaking any unity severs the joint tenancy as to that share, converting it to a tenancy in common.

Worked example: A, B, and C own as joint tenants, each holding a 1/3 interest. A sells to D. D now holds 1/3 as a tenant in common with B and C, because D's interest was created at a different time and by a different title — destroying two unities. B and C remain joint tenants with each other (each 1/3), still with survivorship between them.

If B then dies, B's 1/3 passes by survivorship to C, who now holds 2/3 as tenant in common with D's 1/3.

Trap: A will cannot defeat survivorship. A joint tenant who tries to will their share gets overridden — the share already passed to survivors at the instant of death.

Other Interests in Land

Beyond possessory estates, exams test encumbrances and non-possessory rights:

• Easement — a right to use another's land (e.g., a driveway). An easement appurtenant benefits an adjacent parcel (dominant tenement) and burdens another (servient tenement); it runs with the land. An easement in gross benefits a person or company (utility lines).
• License — personal, revocable permission to use land; does not run with the land.
• Encroachment — an unauthorized physical intrusion (a fence over the boundary).
• Lien — a monetary claim against property (mortgage, tax, judgment).
• Deed restriction / restrictive covenant — private limits on use.

Trap: An easement is an interest in land and survives a sale; a license is mere permission and is revocable at will. Distinguish them by whether the right runs with the land. Likewise, an encroachment is a physical trespass while a lien is a financial claim — both burden title but in different ways and through different remedies.

Bundle of Rights and Property Types

Real property ownership carries a bundle of rights: possession, control, exclusion, enjoyment, and disposition (memory aid "P-C-E-E-D"). Each stick can be separated and conveyed — a lease transfers possession; an easement transfers limited use.

Real property is land plus permanent improvements and the bundle of rights. Personal property (chattel) is movable and not affixed. A fixture is personal property that has become real property by attachment; the MARIA test (Method of attachment, Adaptability, Relationship of parties, Intention, Agreement) determines status. Emblements (annual crops) and trade fixtures (a tenant's business equipment) generally remain personal property the tenant may remove.