Title Vesting

What is title vesting? Helpful information on the different ways that a title can be held in vested interest. Some common ways that title is held (vesting) or title vesting.

Title vesting is a common way that the title is held in vested interest.

Fee simple estate: (a form of freehold ownership)

Fee simple estate (or fee simple absolute) represents absolute ownership of land and property, thus, the owner may do whatever she or he chooses with the land. For example, if the owner of a fee simple estate dies intestate, the land will transfer to the heirs. Fee simple estate can be summed up as the ultimate possible estate in land, where the owner(s) have the legal right to use, exclusively possess, commit waste upon, dispose of by means of deed or will, and harvest.

Tenancy in common:

Two or more people own the property together; they each own a share of the income, expenses, and value of the property; each individual can sell, lease or will their own share of the property, and all tenants in common have the right to occupy the property together.

Severalty:

This is ownership by a single person or corporation. “Sole and separate property.”

Joint tenancy:

This type of ownership or “vesting” provides or contains “rights of survivorship” without having to go through probate. This conveys ownership of the deceased person(s) property or “estate”to the surviving owner(s) immediately upon the partner’s death. This is a very common form of vesting for married couples.

Community property:

This pertains to only persons married to each other or “Community property”. This means that title will be conveyed to the surviving spouse if there is no will and refers to all property and debts acquired during marriage and are shared equally. In the case of a will, either spouse may convey title to whomever they wish. In this case, the heir or devisee would become a tenant in common with the surviving spouse. Married couples can receive and/or inherit property and still keep it separate property. In this scenario, they may not co-mingle income from separate property with income from community property.

Tenants by the entirety:

Allows spouses to own property together as a single legal entity. Under a tenancy by the entirety, creditors of an individual spouse may not attach and sell the interest of a debtor spouse: only creditors of the couple can attach and sell the interest in the property owned by tenancy by the entirety.