Property Rights: Estates and Ownership
An estate is a person's interest in land. Freehold estates last indefinitely; less-than-freehold estates are leaseholds.
Freehold estates
- Fee simple absolute: the most complete ownership.
- Fee simple defeasible: subject to a condition; ownership may revert (determinable) or be terminated (condition subsequent).
- Life estate: measured by the life tenant's life or another's (pur autre vie). A life tenant may use the property but cannot commit waste; on death the property passes to a remainderman or reverts to the grantor.
Leaseholds
Estate for years (fixed term), periodic tenancy (renews automatically), tenancy at will (no fixed term), and tenancy at sufferance (holdover).
Concurrent ownership
- Tenancy in common: equal or unequal shares, no right of survivorship.
- Joint tenancy: requires the four unities plus survivorship language.
- Tenancy by the entireties: Florida's form for married couples; survivorship applies and one spouse cannot convey alone.
Other ownership forms
Condominium unit owners hold fee title to the unit plus an undivided share of common elements (Chapter 718). Cooperative owners own corporate shares plus a proprietary lease, which is personal property, not real property. Timeshares fall under Chapter 721.
Traps
Joint tenancy without survivorship language becomes a tenancy in common. A life tenant cannot convey the fee. Florida homestead protects a residence from forced sale except for taxes, mortgages, and a few other claims.
Rule of thumb
T-TIP: Time, Title, Interest, Possession, the four unities for joint tenancy.