Also known as: benefited estate · benefitted estate · benefitted estates · dominant estate · dominant tenement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An estate that receives the benefit of an appurtenant easement or covenant running with the land. The benefited estate is served by the corresponding servient estate that bears the burden of the servitude.
Brian Bailey owns a parcel containing an office building. He acquires an express easement over an adjacent parcel owned by Benson Motors for client parking. The easement benefits Brian Bailey's parcel because it provides convenient access that enhances the use and value of his office land.
Brooke Bryant owns a residential lot served by an easement over a neighboring driveway owned by Birchwood Apparel. When Brooke Bryant installs an electric vehicle charging station that increases driveway traffic, the change accommodates normal development of her benefited lot without exceeding the reasonable scope of the servitude.
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Benjamin Brooks owns a retail store on a benefited parcel that originally used a delivery easement over adjacent land owned by Bayside Shipping. When Benjamin Brooks converts part of the store into a small warehouse requiring more frequent truck deliveries, the increased use is permitted because the parties contemplated normal development of the benefited estate.
Belinda Baxter owns a subdivided lot that was once part of a larger dominant parcel served by an access easement. After the subdivision, Belinda Baxter continues to use the easement to reach her new lot because the benefit of the servitude runs to each resulting portion of the benefited estate.
Bianca Baker purchases a lot within a planned community subject to recorded maintenance covenants. The covenants benefit Bianca Baker's lot by preserving common areas, so she may enforce the obligations against neighboring owners as a successor to the benefited estate.
Brendan Burns acquires farmland that receives irrigation water under a recorded covenant from an upstream owner. The covenant benefits Brendan Burns's parcel by ensuring continued water supply, allowing him to enforce the obligation against the upstream owner as the current holder of the benefited estate.
The benefited estate receives the advantage of the easement or covenant while the burdened estate must accommodate the use or obligation. Both estates must exist for the servitude to qualify as appurtenant rather than in gross.
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Yes. When a covenant provides services or maintenance that a tenant can enjoy without increasing the obligor's burden, the benefit runs to the lessee as a successor in interest to the benefited land.
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Yes. When the benefited estate is subdivided, the easement benefit is apportioned among the resulting parcels unless the creating instrument expressly limits apportionment.
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Unity of ownership extinguishes the easement because the owner can exercise the former easement rights by virtue of fee ownership alone, and the easement does not revive upon later severance unless expressly reserved.
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…appeal from a judgment that denied their counterclaim for an injunction against Will and Jean Brown, plaintiffs, owners of the dominant estate. Defendants requested the injunction to prevent plaintiffs from using an easement appurtenant to gain access to a nondominant estate adjacent to the dominant estate. We reverse and remand…