Real Property Law: Estates, Ownership, and Conveyances
Estates
A fee simple absolute is the largest estate and endures forever. A life estate ends at the measuring life's death and carries a duty not to commit waste; the holder may convey only what she has. Remainders and reversions follow the life estate, and a grantor who keeps nothing has conveyed the fee. Leaseholds are personal property, not real property. Understand easements (appurtenant runs with the land; in gross is personal), profits, licenses (revocable), and fixtures (annexation, adaptation, intent).
Concurrent ownership
Tenancy in common permits unequal shares and has no survivorship. Joint tenancy requires the four unities - time, title, interest, and possession - and adds survivorship; any joint tenant may sever unilaterally by conveying her interest. Tenancy by the entirety exists only between spouses, cannot be severed by one spouse alone, and generally shields the property from one spouse's individual creditors. Community property applies in community property states.
Deeds and recording
A valid deed requires identifiable parties, words of grant, a description sufficient to identify the land, the grantor's signature, and delivery with intent to convey plus acceptance. Consideration is not required, acknowledgment is needed only for recording, and the grantee need not sign. Deed types: general warranty (covenants of seisin, right to convey, quiet enjoyment, warranty, further assurances), special warranty, bargain and sale, quitclaim, and trustee's deeds. Priority among recorded interests depends on the state's race, notice, or race-notice statute and on bona fide purchaser status - value plus no actual, inquiry, or record notice.
Traps and rule of thumb
A deed recorded outside the chain of title (a "wild deed") gives no constructive notice, and a deed from a prior owner recorded after that owner conveyed does not bind a later purchaser. Rule of thumb: test validity with parties, premises, promise, pen, and passing - identity, description, granting words, grantor's signature, and delivery.