Alterman Law Group sponsors WinterSmash, and then . . .

We have for years been proud to be a sponsor of WinterSmash, the annual bowling tournament of the Multnomah Bar Association that raises funds to support the Multnomah Bar Foundation and its CourtCare, CourtSupport, and CourtConnect programs.  This year we were even prouder, if a bit surprised, to win the trophy for the team high score.

Cui bono (who benefits)? Error Two in drafting easement agreements

Adjoining landowners enter into easement agreements to allow the grantee to use some portion of the grantor’s property for the benefit of the grantee’s property.  A good easement agreement will provide a legal description of the grantor’s property (what I usually define as the “Grantor Tract”), the grantee’s property (I usually call it the “Grantee Tract”), and the portion of the Grantor Tract that is subject to the easement (the location of the driveway, utility line, or other use).

Many old easement agreements state that the grantor is granting an access easement across a portion of the grantor’s property to the grantee “for access to the adjacent lands owned by the grantee.”  A century later the reader knows where the easement is, but not what land it benefits, at least not without digging into old land records to figure out what land the grantee owned in 1920.  Lawyers who don’t include a legal description of the grantee’s property in their easement agreements of today are creating problems for the real estate lawyers of 2120.