Easements can be created expressly through a written grant signed by the owner of the servient estate, or impliedly through prior use, necessity, or prescription. An easement implied from prior use requires an apparent use prior to dividing the land that was necessary and intended to continue. An easement by necessity arises when a land division deprives access to a public road. Prescriptive easements are created through open, continuous use of another's land for the statutory period. Easements terminate through conditions in the grant, merger of the easement and servient estates, abandonment through physical obstruction, estoppel if reliance on expressed abandonment, when the necessity ends, or adverse possession for the statutory period.
Easements can be created expressly through a written grant signed by the owner of the servient estate, or impliedly through prior use, necessity, or prescription. An easement implied from prior use requires an apparent use prior to dividing the land that was necessary and intended to continue. An easement by necessity arises when a land division deprives access to a public road. Prescriptive easements are created through open, continuous use of another's land for the statutory period. Easements terminate through conditions in the grant, merger of the easement and servient estates, abandonment through physical obstruction, estoppel if reliance on expressed abandonment, when the necessity ends, or adverse possession for the statutory period.
Easements can be created expressly through a written grant signed by the owner of the servient estate, or impliedly through prior use, necessity, or prescription. An easement implied from prior use requires an apparent use prior to dividing the land that was necessary and intended to continue. An easement by necessity arises when a land division deprives access to a public road. Prescriptive easements are created through open, continuous use of another's land for the statutory period. Easements terminate through conditions in the grant, merger of the easement and servient estates, abandonment through physical obstruction, estoppel if reliance on expressed abandonment, when the necessity ends, or adverse possession for the statutory period.
o easement can be created through an express grant
o easement is an interest in land, the Statute of Frauds applies, and any express grant of an easement must be in writing, and signed by the party to be charged (holder of the servient estate-the person whose land will be burdened by the easement) o A grantor can also convey title to land but reserve for himself the right to continue to use that land for a specific purpose o easement by implication. In easement by implication writing is not required. One easement by implication is an easement implied from existing use strict requirements: o Look for a situation in which there is one tract of land o Prior to the division of that single tract, an apparent and continuous use exists on the part of the land that is not being granted to another o That use is necessary for the enjoyment of the part of the land that is being granted to another o court must determine that the parties to the transaction intended the use to continue after the division of the land. easement by implication is an easement by necessity arises when a landowner sells a portion of his tract and by this division deprives one lot of access to a public road or utility line owner of the land that is now deprived of such necessity has the right to cross the tract of land that will allow the owner to reach the public road or utility line. an easement by implication can be created by prescription. essentially, adverse possession requires that one uses another's land (rather than possesses the land as in traditional adverse possession) AND use is open and notorious, adverse, continuous and uninterrupted, for the statutory period. Termination of Easements: o stated conditions in the writing of an express easement-- original easement grant can specify when or under what conditions the easement will terminate. o Merger- If the same person acquires ownership of both the easement and the servient estate, the easement is destroyed So, for example, assume that X is the owner of an easement allowing X to cross over Y's land. If X subsequently purchases Y's land from Y, X's easement over Y's land terminates, as X now owns the easement, and the servient estate, causing the easement to merge into the servient estate. o abandon the easement- holder must demonstrate by physical action (for example, building a wall that blocks access to the easement) an intent to permanently abandon the easement- Merely expressing a wish to abandon will not suffice. o estoppel -Oral expressions of an intent to abandon, without any physical action accompanying that expression, generally do not rise to the level of abandonment of the easement. But if the owner of the servient estate changes his position in reasonable reliance on the representations made by the owner of the easement, the easement terminates through estoppel. o If an easement was created by necessity, the easement expires as soon as the necessity ends. o Prescription-To terminate by this method, there must be an adverse, continuous interruption of the use of the easement for the statutory period.