Types of Property
Essay Preview: Types of Property
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TYPES OF PROPERTY
Property: Legally protected rights and interests in anything with an ascertainable value that is subject to ownership.
Real Property: Land and everything of value attached to it, such as foliage and permanent structures, or found under it, such as minerals and water.
Personal Property: Property that is movable – sometimes referred to as chattel or personalty.
Tangible Personalty: Personal property that has physical substance (e.g., a television set or car).
Intangible Personalty: Personal property the value of which does not depend on physical existence (e.g., stocks, bonds, patents, and copyrights).
Fixtures: Buildings and other improvements other than trade fixtures attached to real property such that
the fixture cannot be removed without causing substantial damage to the real property, or
the fixture is so adapted to and takes on the characteristics of the real property that it becomes part of that real property.
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP
Fee Simple: Absolute ownership entitling the property owner to possess, use, or dispose of the property as she chooses.
Concurrent Ownership
Tenancy in Common: Co-ownership of property in which each party owns an undivided interest in the whole property.
Joint Tenancy: Joint ownership of property in which each co-owner owns an undivided interest in a portion of the whole property.
Tenancy by the Entirety: Joint ownership of property by husband and wife, where neither party can transfer his or her interest in the property without the others consent.
Community Property: Joint ownership of property by husband and wife in which each spouse owns an undivided one-half interest in property acquired during marriage.
ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP: NON-GIFTS
Ownership of personal property may be obtained in the following ways:
Purchase: Property rights may be acquired in exchange for money or other valuable consideration.
Possession: Property rights may be acquired by taking possession of unclaimed, lost, or abandoned property.
Production: Property rights may be acquired by creating the property.
Accession: Property rights may be acquired by adding value to existing property by personal labor or materials.
Ownership by accession may be subject to challenge if (1) the accession was wrongfully done, or (2) the accession greatly increased the value of the property or changed its identity.
Confusion: Property rights may be acquired by mixing together goods belonging to two or more persons in such a way so that the separately-owned goods can no longer be identified.
ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP: GIFTS
Gift: Any voluntary transfer of property made without consideration, past or present.
In order for a transfer of property to be considered a gift, the following conditions must be satisfied:
Donative Intent: The donor (the person giving the gift) must intend for the transfer to be a gift;
Delivery: The gift must be delivered to the donee (the person for whom the gift is intended), who, as a result of the gift, must be free to exercise dominion (ownership rights) over the property in question; and
Acceptance: The donee must accept the gift.
Inter Vivos Gift: A gift made during the donors lifetime and not in contemplation of imminent death.
Causa Mortis Gift: A gift made in contemplation of the donors death. The donee must survive the donor in order to accept the gift. If the donor does not die as expected, the gift is revoked.
MISLAID, LOST, OR ABANDONED PROPERTY
Mislaid Property: Property with which the owner has voluntarily parted and then cannot find or recover. When mislaid property is found, the finder does not obtain title to the mislaid property, but rather holds it in trust for the true owner.
Lost Property: Property with which the owner has involuntarily parted and then cannot find or recover. When lost property is found, the finder can claim title to the property superior to that of any other person except the true owner.
Estray Statute: A statute defining a finders rights in property when its true ownership is unknown.
Abandoned Property: Property with which the owner has voluntarily parted with no intention of recovering it. When abandoned property is found, the finder can claim title to the property superior to that of any other person including the true owner.
BAILMENTS
Bailment: A situation in which the personal property of one person (the bailor) is entrusted to another person (the bailee), who is obligated to return the bailed property to the bailor or dispose of it as directed by the bailor.
Bailments involve only personal property – real property cannot be the subject of a bailment.
Possession of the bailed property must be transferred to the bailee in such a way that:
the bailee is given exclusive possession and control over the property