By Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG If you avoid searching in land records, chances are you will never be able to compile your family history. And the further back in time you are able to trace your families in America, the more critical land records become to your research. Once you have identified the county in which your ancestors lived, you should examine the index to the deeds and then obtain copies of the actual documents.
Real property is land together with whatever is erected on it or affixed to it.
The best title a person can hold in real property is called fee simple. However, there are many kinds of estates less absolute than fee simple, and most of these can also be sold by the title holder, and sometimes be left to heirs or devisees. A life estate entitles the holder to possess title to the property during the period of his own life or the life of some other specified person. A dower estate, frequently found in the records, is a life estate. Most estates in tail are created by wills.