SETTLEMENT AND CLOSING
PROCEDURES EXAM
⫸ Government Reserved Rights. Answer: "PETE"; Police Power,
Eminent Domain, Taxation, Escheat
⫸ Police Power. Answer: Right of govt. to enact and enforce laws that
restrict use of property without compensation to the owner for general
public welfare....Ex. Zoning Laws
⫸ Eminent Domain. Answer: Right of government to take private
property when needed for some worthwhile public use
⫸ Condemnation. Answer: Legal proceeding to take property. Owner is
paid fair market value
⫸ Taxation (as a reserved right of govt.). Answer: Shared cost of
running government
⫸ Escheat. Answer: Reversion of property to government when owner
dies and leaves no heirs to inherit property
⫸ Mineral rights or Sub-surface rights. Answer: Beneath the surface
, ⫸ Estate. Answer: Legal or possessory right
⫸ Tenancy. Answer: Same as ESTATE
⫸ Freehold Estate. Answer: Indefinite period & Not less than a lifetime
⫸ Fee Simple Absolute (or simply Fee Simple. Answer: IS A
FREEHOLD ESTATE Highest & Largest; most rights; Ownership is not
conditional; Property descends to heirs
⫸ Fee simple determinable; Conditional fee estate; Defeasible fee.
Answer: IS A FREEHOLD ESTATE Estate remains in existence only
till the happening of specified event; If condition changes, property
reverts to original grantor
⫸ Life estate. Answer: IS A FREEHOLD ESTATE - ownership for the
duration of someone's life; Cannot be willed; Duration may be for life
tenant's life or a third party
⫸ Life estate pur autre vie. Answer: Life estate based on 'someone else's
life' Estate terminates upon death; Upon death of the life tenant or
designate third person, property is passed to the REMAINDERMAN
⫸ Estate in reversion. Answer: IS A FREEHOLD ESTATE - When the
property reverts to the original grantor