[WSBARP] Easement in Gross

[John M. Riley III]

Read the Coast Storage and  Beebe v. Swerda cases.  They  will give you a flavor for the issues that arise when granting an easement to yourself.



John M. Riley, III
Principal | Witherspoon * Kelley
jmr at witherspoonkelley.com<mailto:jmr at witherspoonkelley.com> | Attorney Profile<http://www.witherspoonkelley.com/john-riley-1> | vCard<http://www.witherspoonkelley.com/s/jmr.vcf>

[cid:wk3591bf]<http://www.witherspoonkelley.com>        422 W. Riverside Ave, Ste 1100
Spokane, WA 99201
(509) 624-5265 (office)
(509) 458-2728 (fax)
witherspoonkelley.com



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From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Richard Holland
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 1:00 PM
To: WSBA Real Property Listserv
Subject: [WSBARP] Easement in Gross

Ok, so client wants an easement over a portion of the property he wants to sell.  Has an LLC so, in theory, one can grant the easement over that area to the LLC as he wants in done in a separate document prior to sale not a reservation in the deed.

The issue is that it is an easement in gross by definition since there will not be an appurtenant property but rather just an area of the land he still wants to access and, essentially, maintain control over.  Going back on my ancient memory of property law, easements in gross were personal, non-assignable, etc.  Does this change with an LLC?  I mean, in theory, an LLC can have perpetual duration and change members etc.  Its not completely relevant to what client is trying to do and I do not believe he intends to assign it or leave it in his will in any event but I do wonder if somehow it could make the easement grant fail if that makes any sense.  I know of course that Cell Towers and Pipelines all have easements in gross, technically, but am thinking that there must be a specific law/regulation that gets them around the typical pitfalls of an easement in gross.  Any easement experts out there have a moment to chat this week?


Sincerely,

Richard Holland

Pacific Northwest Legal & Escrow, P.S.
733 7th Avenue, Suite 110
Kirkland, WA 98033
425-836-6240


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