What best describes an appurtenant easement?

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Multiple Choice

What best describes an appurtenant easement?

An appurtenant easement is a land-related right that attaches to a dominant parcel and benefits that land, not a person. It involves two parcels: the dominant estate, which gains the use or benefit, and the servient estate, which is burdened by the easement. Because the benefit runs with the land, the easement transfers with the dominant parcel when it’s sold and continues to burden the servient parcel for as long as it exists. This is why the best description is the one that says the easement runs with the land and benefits a dominant parcel. Choices that describe an easement that benefits a person or entity rather than land describe an easement in gross, which does not run with the land. The idea that it’s created only by condemnation isn’t the defining feature of an appurtenant easement, since appurtenant rights can arise in various ways. And an easement that burdens the servient estate but benefits no land wouldn’t be an appurtenant easement at all.

An appurtenant easement is a land-related right that attaches to a dominant parcel and benefits that land, not a person. It involves two parcels: the dominant estate, which gains the use or benefit, and the servient estate, which is burdened by the easement. Because the benefit runs with the land, the easement transfers with the dominant parcel when it’s sold and continues to burden the servient parcel for as long as it exists.

This is why the best description is the one that says the easement runs with the land and benefits a dominant parcel. Choices that describe an easement that benefits a person or entity rather than land describe an easement in gross, which does not run with the land. The idea that it’s created only by condemnation isn’t the defining feature of an appurtenant easement, since appurtenant rights can arise in various ways. And an easement that burdens the servient estate but benefits no land wouldn’t be an appurtenant easement at all.

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