Real Property Ownership, Interests, Encumbrances, and Land Use
Estates and co-ownership
Fee simple absolute is the fullest estate. Lesser estates include life estates and leaseholds. Co-ownership comes as tenancy in common (no survivorship, freely inheritable), joint tenancy (right of survivorship, severed by conveyance or agreement), and-where recognized-tenancy by the entirety. Severance of a joint tenancy is a favorite exam twist: one joint tenant's deed destroys the survivorship as to that share.
Encumbrances
Easements, liens, encroachments, deed restrictions, and licenses all burden property. An easement appurtenant benefits a neighboring parcel; an easement in gross benefits a person. A license is permission, revocable, and not an interest in land. Lien priority generally follows recording order, with statutory exceptions such as property tax liens.
Wyoming land use
Water rights in Wyoming follow prior appropriation-first in time, first in right-administered by the State Engineer, and water is generally tied to beneficial use rather than to the land's title. Wyoming is open range country, so fencing duties run to protect livestock rather than to keep them in. Zoning, subdivision regulation, and covenants run alongside state and county rules.
Traps
Mixing up easement and license; assuming a lien disappears because the debt was sold; forgetting that restrictive covenants can run with the land; and treating a prescriptive easement as requiring permission-it is the opposite.
Rule of thumb
Ask two questions: does the interest run with the land or with a person, and does it survive a transfer?