Property law.

Property law.

Joint tenancy with survivorship.

Joint tenancy with right of survivorship is a type or nature of shared ownership, with the words right of survivorship being the key words. If one owner dies, his share immediately passes to the other surviving members who divide his share equally among themselves. This means that the joint tenants equally share the ownership of the property while still alive. When one joint member dies his interests ends. The title or share that belonged to the deceased person automatically passes to the remaining joint owners. The right of the survivorship continues until the time when there’s only one joint tenant owning the property. Many people put their property in joint tenancy mostly to avoid probate after their death and also to avoid complicated representative’s fees and other court costs.

Placing assets or any property in joint tenancy automatically disinherits others who are not joint owners or party to it including the children. Barney needs not to be bothered so much about Andy’s son Opie. The case he has instituted will not bare any fruit as the law is very categorical on the issue of inheritance as regards the joint tenancy law. Besides the parties to the joint tenancy no one else can inherit the property except the parties to it.

Lapsed devises in a will.

At common law the lapse in a will occurs when the devisee or the beneficiary under the will predeceases or dies before the testator, cancelling the gift. The gift will eventually revert to the person stated or be granted under the intestate succession law. If the beneficiary of the deceased was in initially intended to inherit part or all the residuary property or estate; Lapse devises will not apply in Andy’s will as Opie tries to presents his father’s (Andy) written will in a case that he is being sued by his creditors for nonpayment of loan. The will in the first place is can be contested in a court of law as it doesn’t apply where the joint tenancy applies as only the parties to the joint tenancy can inherit the properties under the doctrine. The children of any member of the group i.e. joint tenancy agreement are not entitled to any inheritance. The best advice to Barney is to allow the lawyers or his attorneys to continue with the case and allow it to go for a full judgment.

Adverse possession

Adverse possession is a situation, under which a group of people or a person in possession of land which is owned by someone else may legally acquire a valid title as long as some common law basic requirements are met, these are that the possessors must be continuous and must be hostile to the true owners interests, he must be open and notorious, it must be actual and exclusive. If it’s under the color of title it will require seven years if not then it will need a total of twenty continuous years. In New York to own a property mostly land and building by adverse possession all that’s needed is the actual showing that the real possession constitutes an invasion of or the interference upon the owners’ rights. In other states, or countries, the beneficiary acquires an equitable lands title, the immediate landowner is only considered to be a trustee of the land or building in question.

In our case, adverse possession is limited to the property actually possessed. If the real owner had a title to a large area then the disseisor will not be given the whole land but its limited to the actual size they are utilizing as their basic home.

Ernest, the person Barney had known from the old town where he had being the deputy police chief seems to have a right to the property. If Ernest has honestly lived on the land for twenty years as he claims and has also met the requirements of the adverse possessions doctrine then the said property might in a way be his legally. George v North Carolina (1990)

Imminent domain

Imminent domain is the power of the state to take possession of private property for use by the state. The property may be possessed by the government for its own use or delegate it to other parties for public use or any other official use. Barney’s attorney will definitely advice him that as long as the state evokes the power of the imminent domain , he has no chance of winning the case as once the condemnation has taken place then the best he can do is to wait for the compensation. To recover the property is obviously out of his reach. (Hepburn, 2001)

The Americans courts have made decisions as to what the preferred measure of equitable compensation as per the market price that the willing and not pressured buyer may be willing to buy the said property. This system takes into account the best and the highest costs which is not really its current use or value as mandated the reasonable probability.

This method has been criticized as it doesn’t include some incidental economic expenses and losses inflicted to the owners as a result of farming or working in the land.

Bailment

Bailment is a term used in common law to describe a lawful relationship where the immediate physical possession of personal property, asset or chattel is transferred from the bailor to the bailed who has the possession of the property. It arises where someone is given some property by someone for safe keeping. It’s common where a person leaves his car with a valet. Barney left his car with someone else believing that he was the restaurants valet but he was not, instead he stole the car and traded it for a mustang in Kinston, NC and it was later sold to the Classic Car Show in Mount Olive, where it was found. The showman in Classic car Show in Mount Olive has a clean title as he’s a bonafide purchaser since he bought the car in Kinston, NC lawfully. Barney cannot succeed in recovering his car from the showman in Mount Olive but can sue the owner of the garage in Kinston, NC for the recovery of the $5600 dollars owned to the Classic car show in Mount Olive and Carl, the young fellow who stole the car.

The best advice for Barney is to pay up and take his car from the show man in Mount Olive and sue the owner of Kinston’s garage where the car was found and if possible press for the arrest of Carl. A person with a title that’s voidable has the power to transfer a good title or sell to a good faith purchaser for value. When assets or goods have been delivered the purchaser has powers even though, the transferor was cheated as to the real identity of the purchaser, or the delivery was achieved through fraud which is punishable as larcenous as a crime under criminal law, the agreement was the transaction was to be a cash sale or the delivery was to be exchanged with a cheque which was dishonored shortly thereafter.

References

Hepburn, S. (2001) Principles of Property Law. Newport, NSW: Cavendish.

Reale, A. (2009). Assisted Theft: Compulsory land acquisition for private benefit in Australia

And the US” Alternative Law Journal .Melbourne: Legal Service Bulletin Co-operative Ltd.

Ryskamp, J. (2006) The Eminent Domain Revolt: Changing Perceptions in a New Constitutional Epoch, New York: Algora Publishing.

Greenhut, S (2004) Abuse Of Power: How The Government Misuses Eminent Domain, Seven Locks Press, Trade paperback,

Hazarabedian, A. 2005California Eminent Domain Handbook, California Eminent Domain Law Group, June. Available free online.