ABA Family Legal Guide

Home Ownership

Property Rights and Restrictions

Ownership Options

How does the deed affect property ownership?

The ownership description on the deed has long-term significance--both in the duration of the title and whether you are free to transfer your interest to someone else. Today, the most common form of ownership is fee simple. The term "fee simple" comes from feudal England, where a noble landholder would grant an estate, called a fee, to a faithful subject in exchange for service or money. If the lord intended for the tenant to be able to keep the estate in the tenant's family after he died, the lord would include the phrase "and his heirs" in the legal document. That phrase may appear on your deed, indicating fee simple ownership. Some states, though, have dispensed with it.

Fee simple is the most complete form of ownership, because, in theory, title in fee simple is valid forever. People who own property in fee simple may sell it, rent it out, transfer it to their beneficiaries, and to some extent limit its use in the future. Under some of the other forms of ownership, such as an estate for years, the title reverts to the former owner at some specified time.

While it is still possible to transfer a life estate in property, it is rarely done because it severely restricts the new owner's ability to sell the property.