Land use refers to zoning laws and other laws that regulate the use and development of real property. Zoning is the most common form of regulation of this area and is utilized by municipalities in order to control how property is maintained and developed. Zoning laws usually indicate which areas of the municipality that will be considered residential, commercial or industrial areas. Such laws help to protect the value of properties and ensure that areas are optimized for their intended use.
Zoning laws also help protect the aesthetics and safety of buildings. They may impose certain height restrictions, specify how many feet a building must be from a roadway, limit the number of rooms or buildings within a certain area, specify the types of buildings permitted in a specific area or designate certain locations for power lines. Many municipalities utilize a master plan to help guide decisions regarding future development.
Another common source of land use is based on rights and interests of other parties. For example, an easement is a limited right for a person to gain legal access to a portion of another person’s property. This may be granted through a conveyance, or it may be implied by law, such as if a property is otherwise landlocked and the owners cannot have public access without crossing the land. An easement may also exist to provide a benefit to the public, such as requiring a property owner not to build on a portion of the land so that the public can access green space or a waterway.
Land use can also involve restrictive covenants. These are provisions included in a deed that limit a property’s use or restrict its use, such as only allowing the property to be used for residential purposes, to maintain a specific aesthetic quality and consistency with a community development or to establish a setback line.
Marital property is defined under state law. The principles of which spouse owns which property are primarily determined by whether the spouses live in a common law property or a community property state.
A divorce decree often contains provisions regarding a number of key issues. It may indicate the property distribution agreement between the couple, child support orders, the parenting plan, custodial arrangements and spousal support information. Sometimes changes may require an adjustment while in others, enforcement is sought after one of the parties did not comply with the original court order.
For many years, fathers were relegated to the role of only being breadwinners with little attention given to any emotional comfort that they could provide their child. Mothers were considered the natural caretaker and a father receiving greater parental rights over a mother was an uncommon occurrence unless there was extreme misconduct on the mother’s part.
When referring to minors, guardianship is usually the process involved when a person who is not a parent of a minor takes over parenting responsibilities. In essence, the court gives custody of the minor child to an adult relative, caregiver or other individual. This term is also used to refer to someone who takes over the property of a minor child.
Eminent domain describes the ability of the state to take private property for public use. It is easy to understand why something like this could trigger a vicious legal battle that takes a great amount of time to resolve. Unfortunately, within that timeframe, individuals can exhaust their resources fighting the government and the project the government intended to create can go undone, which can be a detriment to society.
Despite popular opinion, a valid sexual harassment case can be difficult to prove and cannot be premised on isolated events that are not serious in nature. Instead, the employee who makes a legal claim of sexual harassment must show several elements, generally with proof by a preponderance of the evidence.