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25. In this lawsuit, the rancher is entitled to a decree quieting title so that the rancher is the sole owner in fee simple of Greenacre
Except for the statutes related to real estate taxes and tax sales, there is no applicable statute.
Thereafter, the rancher instituted an appropriate action against the sole heir to quiet title in and to recover possession of Greenacre. The sole heir asserted all defenses available to her, but refused to pay the rancher any money.
The farmer died intestate, survived only by the farmer's sole heir. Thereafter, the sole heir occupied Greenacre but was inexperienced in farming operations. The result was a financial disaster. The sole heir failed to pay real estate taxes for two years. The appropriate governmental authority held a tax sale to recover the taxes due. At such sale the rancher was the only bidder and obtained a conveyance from the appropriate governmental authority upon payment of an amount sufficient to discharge the amounts due for taxes, plus interest and penalties, and the costs of holding the tax sale. The amount paid was one-third of the reasonable market value of Greenacre.
A farmer and a rancher owned Greenacre, a large farm, in fee simple as tenants in common, each owning an undivided one-half interest. For five years the farmer occupied Greenacre and conducted farming operations. The farmer never accounted to the rancher for any income, but the farmer did pay all real estate taxes when the taxes were due and kept the buildings located on Greenacre insured against loss from fire, storm, and flood. The rancher lived in a distant city and was interested only in realizing a profit from the sale of the land when market conditions produced the price the rancher wanted.
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Tenants in common can receive their interests at different times and from different conveyances. Tenants in common can also hold unequal shares of the land, even if both tenants will have full use of all of the premises.
When one co-tenant makes a property tax or mortgage payment on the property, these payments are viewed as being made for the benefit of all the co-tenants, since their interest in the property is being protected. Thus, the tenant who made the payment will be allowed to deduct the payment from the rents he has collected from third persons, and he will be reimbursed for the payments «off the top» before any proceeds from a partition sale are distributed. The costs of repairs are handled in the same way, when only one tenant is in possession.
D is correct. This question requires you to understand the rights and duties of tenants in common. Co-tenants have a right to contribution from each other for certain expenditures such as taxes, mortgage payments, and necessary repairs. This is logical considering that even though a co-tenant only owns part of the land, each of these expenditures must be paid in full — i.e. you cannot pay half of the taxes or mortgage payment on a property, or fix one-half of an item needing repair. An accounting is generally the means employed to determine each co-tenant's respective contribution rights. In this case, an accounting is unnecessary because the property is generating no income, and there is only one expenditure to divide — the cost of the tax deed. The farmer's sole heir must pay one-half of the cost of that deed if she wishes to retain her one-half interest in the property.
A is incorrect. The principal characteristic of a joint tenancy is the right of survivorship. Where two parties hold a property in joint tenancy and one dies, the decedent's interest in the property terminates and the survivor's interest is increased to 100%.
This answer would be correct if the farmer and the rancher had held the land in joint tenancy, but the facts indicate that they were tenants in common. A tenancy in common, as described in this question's fact pattern, is a concurrent estate with no right of survivorship. Each owner has a distinct, undivided interest in the property.
B is incorrect. If one tenant pays for improvements to the property, which the other tenants have not agreed to, the former is never permitted to recover contribution from the latter in a direct suit. Neither the farmer nor the sole heir was obligated to care for the land and meet all the expenditures related to it on their own, even though the farmer chose to do so for several years.
C is incorrect. The reasonable market value of the land is irrelevant — the sole heir is responsible for an amount equal to one-half of what the rancher spent.