Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources • Oklahoma State UniversityAGEC-784Marcia L. Tilley ProfessorDolores Willett Assistant Extension Specialist Real Estate Ownershipin OklahomaNote: This publication is intended to provide general information about legal is-sues. It should not be cited or relied upon as legal authority. State laws vary and no attempt is made to discuss laws of states other than Oklahoma. For advice about how these issues might apply to your individual situation, consult an attorney. Titles to real estate identify the types of rights held by the owner. It is possible to subdivide full ownership of property into many different subgroupings based upon joint current ownership by two or more people or based upon division of present and future ownership. This OSU Facts will discuss some of the common forms of real estate ownership and the rights associated with those ownership forms.Real Estates Ownership Ownership of land is sometimes classified as freehold or leasehold estates. Freehold estates are ownership interests that last forever or for an indefinite length of time. Leasehold estates last for a specified period of time. A leasehold estate gives the holder a right to use the property for the purpose and length of time stated in the lease agreement. This OSU Facts will deal primarily with freehold estates which are usu-ally considered as ownership interests. Fee Simple Absolute (Full Ownership) Full ownership of real estate is generally referred to as fee simple absolute ownership, or just fee simple. This type of ownership means the owner has all of the legal rights as-sociated with ownership. The holder can use the property for any legal purpose, can sell it to someone else, can give it away or can leave it to his/her heirs. A fee simple owner of property may also divide his owner-ship rights among several people. Ownership may be divided into present and future interests, including life estates with remainders or reversions, fee simple determinable interests with possibility of reverter or executory interests, and fee simple on condition subsequent with a right of re-entry or power of termination. Life Estate Full ownership may be subdivided so that one person is given a life estate. This entitles the life estate holder to use the land as if he owned it during the designated period of time. We call the person who holds a life estate a life tenant. Generally, the lifetime used to measure the length of ownership is the life of the life tenant. However, this is not required and any person may be specified as the measuring life. If the length of the life estate is measured by the life of someone other than the life tenant, the life estate is sometimes called a life estate “pur autre vie” which means “for the life of another”. A life tenant may sell or mortgage his interest, or give it to someone else, but the transfer does not change the lifetime that is used to measure the time period. Unless the remainderman joins in the conveyance, the life tenant may only transfer what he owns, which is the right to possess the property and use it as his own during the specified lifetime. A life tenant cannot transfer total ownership of the property unless the owner of the remainder interest joins in the trans-fer. Because of the uncertainty as to how long the life tenant may live, it is sometimes difficult to find someone willing to purchase a life estate or accept it as collateral. If a buyer is found, the price may be discounted to take account of the uncertainty. Annuity tables may be used to predict the prob-able length of the life estate. The future interest that coexists with a life estate is called a reversion if held by the original owner or a remainder if given to someone else. At the end of the life estate, this fu-ture interest holder will be the fee simple owner of the entire estate. Under English law, another type of estate called the fee tail estate was prevalent. It was similar to a series of life estates and allowed the individual who created the fee tail estate to control who would own the property for many future generations. Generally, but not always, the right of property ownership was held by the oldest son. In the United States, this form of ownership has been abolished in most states, including Oklahoma. Our legal system tends to discourage control of ownership from the grave for future generations and prefers to allow owners freedom and flexibility to sell or transfer their interests if they desire to do so. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Fact Sheets are also available on our website at: http://osufacts.okstate.eduOklahoma Cooperative Extension ServiceAGEC-784-2Fee Simple Determinable If full ownership is subdivided so that one person has the right to current use and possession of the property for a specified purpose but will automatically lose all rights if the specified use is discontinued, we say that the person holds a fee simple determinable estate. For example, land might be deeded to a railroad for so long as it is used for railroad purposes. If the land is no longer used as a railroad, the original owner or someone specified by the original owner might have a right to full ownership of the property. This allows the person who deeded the land to the railroad to control their use of the property and ensure that it continues to be used for the specified purpose. Since owners of fee simple determinable estates own less than full ownership rights, the balance of the rights as-sociated with full ownership must be held by someone else. This individual has the right to acquire full ownership of the property if the designated use ceases. We call this a future interest. Such rights might be held by the person who created the fee simple determinable estate or be given to someone else. If the original owner holds the rights, the ownership interest is called a possibility of reverter. If someone else holds the future interest, it is called an executory interest.Fee Simple on Condition Subsequent This ownership interest is very similar to the fee simple determinable estate. It is generally created when land is deeded for a particular purpose. The difference between the two estates arises from the fact that ownership automatically transfers when the designated use ceases in a fee simple determinable estate. In contrast, the owner of a fee simple on condition