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Simple English definitions for legal terms
servient estate
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A quick definition of servient estate:
Servient estate is a piece of land that has to let someone else use it for a specific purpose. This is called an easement. The other piece of land that benefits from the easement is called the dominant estate. The owner of the servient estate has to make sure they don't interfere with the other person's right to use their land. The most common type of easement is for access, which means the servient estate has to let the dominant estate use their land to get to their own land. Servient estate can also be called servient property, servient tenement, or lower estate.
A more thorough explanation:
Definition: A servient estate is a piece of land that is subject to an easement, which benefits another piece of land. An easement is a right or privilege that the owner of one property (called the dominant estate) has over another property (called the servient estate). The owner of the servient estate is obligated not to interfere with that right or privilege.
For example, if a property owner has a driveway that crosses over a neighbor's property, the neighbor's property is the servient estate. The owner of the servient estate is not allowed to block the driveway or interfere with the owner's right to use it.
Another example is a utility company that has an easement to access a property to maintain power lines. The property owner cannot interfere with the utility company's right to access the property.
These examples illustrate how a servient estate is subject to an easement and must allow the dominant estate to exercise their right or privilege without interference.