Case Study 2 Property Essay

Submitted By mrntaylor
Words: 1199
Pages: 5

Case Study 2: Property mishaps
Liberty University

Property Mishaps
Martin is a bright but stern man of the law and small time property investor. He was known to his community as a former deputy and detective. After many years of service he has finally made the decision to enjoy the fruits of his investing labor and retire. Over the years Martin has obtained a few properties in the mountains, the coastal region, and personal property. Shortly after retiring Martin ran into several legal problems concerning the current status of all three of his properties. Having just left his full time career, Martin must establish serious courses of action in order to fight for his rights to personally enjoy his heavily invested properties.
Mountain Property Along with the help of a few friends, Martin purchased land in the mountains approximately 31 years ago. At the time of the purchase they figured since it was a group venture that they should conduct the purchase as joint tenants with respects to survivorship. Martin is the survivor of the other three joint tenants. He has not visited the property in over 20 years but since he now has more time he has decided to pay it a visit for a fishing trip. Upon his arrival he finds that there is a new tenant who has lived overtly on the property for more than 20 years and refuses to acknowledge the deed that Martin has for the land. Martin learned that his friend Peter had willed his portion of the land to his nephew Andrew. According to Jennings, when a group has entered into a joint tenancy agreement none of the members are allowed to mention the property in their will because their shares should be redistributed between the original group members. She also goes on to say that if one of the original group members does transfer their portion to another party after their death, the partnership then switches to tenants in common and the shares are redistributed accordingly, in this case splits in fourths (Jennings, 2007, p.158-159). Based on this information Martin technically owns three-fourths of the shares of land which covers two of the deceased tenants’ portions and Peter’s one-fourth portion would be transferred to the new tenant Otis. But because Peter’s nephew Andrew sold the land to Otis and he has lived there overtly for more than 20 years the full shares of land is now involuntarily transferred to Otis. In Article 4, North Carolina establishes that individuals are not allowed to peruse action in regaining the property after one has lived on the land openly for twenty years (Article 4 § 1-40).
Coastal Property As a second home, Martin purchased a beach house off the coast in Wilmington, NC. He decided to visit this property to wind down from the recent events at the mountain property. When he reached the neighborhood he noticed that the city had begun to demolish the surrounding properties in order to create space for a new family oriented resort that was coming to town. Martin’s beach house has also been selected to be demolished for this project. He was later informed by the city that nothing could be done to reverse the situation as the city had already decided based on eminent domain. In Evicted! , David Shultz informs us that the government is granted the right to retrieve an individual’s land by any means necessary. This means that it is completely legal for a home to be demolished for the sake of creating a greater profit. The main right that a property owner has after their property has been retrieved by way of eminent domain is that he or she must be monetarily compensated (Shultz, 2009, p. 62-63). Under the Takings clause there is nothing that Martin can do in order to stop the demolishing of his beach home or neighborhood. The city officials informed Martin that he would be compensated for the property at market value.
Personal Property Martin purchased a 1966 Pontiac GTO from an auction that always seemed to be the highlight of attention. After