Easement in Gross: Meaning, Examples and Transfer

An easement in gross is a right to use someone else's land that belongs to a person or a company, not to a neighboring parcel. There is a burdened property, called the servient estate, but no benefited property. Power lines, pipelines and billboard sites are common examples. Selling the burdened land does not, by itself, end the easement.

Pillar, a land research software company, wrote this guide. The sources linked below are statutes, court opinions, agency guidance and a Texas A&M Real Estate Center report revised in 2013, and we checked all of them on November 13, 2026. Easement law differs by state, so each rule applies only in the state named. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm a specific easement with a licensed real estate attorney in your state.

What is an easement in gross?

Washington's statute defines it as "an easement not tied to or dependent on ownership or occupancy of a unit or a parcel of real property" (RCW 64.65.010).

The other kind of easement is appurtenant. It involves two parcels: the dominant estate, which benefits, and the servient estate, which carries the burden. A driveway easement that serves the lot next door is the usual example. An easement in gross has only the servient estate. A Missouri court described easements in gross as those "which belong to the owner independently of his ownership or possession of other land, and thus lacking a dominant tenement" (Henley v. Continental Cablevision, 1985).

Some states list these rights by statute. California's Civil Code names the burdens on land that "may be granted and held, though not attached to land": pasture, fishing and taking game, a seat in church, burial, taking rents and tolls, a right of way, and taking water, wood, minerals or other things (Civil Code § 802). Montana's code carries the same list and adds the conservation of open space (MCA 70-17-102).

Does an easement in gross end when the property is sold?

Not by the sale itself. It is a common mistake to say it does, because two different transfers get mixed up:

• The burdened land is sold. A sale does not end the easement. Whether a particular buyer takes the land subject to it can depend on the state's recording and notice rules. In Texas, once an easement is recorded, "any subsequent purchaser of the property is charged (imputed) with knowledge of the easement" (Easements in Texas, Texas Real Estate Research Center, revised 2013). In Missouri, the Court of Appeals in May 2025 affirmed a judgment that a recorded billboard easement survived a tax sale of the property (3018 Pershall, LLC v. Outfront Media, 2025).
• The holder wants to sell or assign the easement. This is the transfer question. The answer depends on the state, on whether the easement is commercial or personal, and on the wording of the document.

Easement in gross examples

Courts sort easements in gross into commercial and personal, because the group often decides whether the right can be transferred. The Utah Supreme Court adopted this test: an easement in gross "is of a commercial character when the use authorized by it results primarily in economic benefit rather than personal satisfaction" (Crane v. Crane, 1984). In that case the right was a trail used to drive cattle raised for profit to their summer range.

Commercial easements in gross:

• Utility lines. Indiana's statute defines an "easement in gross of a commercial character" as one for the transmission or distribution of natural gas, petroleum products or cable television signals, for telephone or water service, or for the transmission, distribution or transformation of electricity (IC 32-23-2-1). Washington's definition of a public utility easement, one in which "the easement holder is a publicly regulated or publicly owned utility," is broad enough to include a city's water or sewer utility.
• Pipelines. The Texas report says: "Pipeline easements are in gross." The Fifth Circuit classified a federal pipeline easement for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as "a commercial easement in gross" (Canova v. Shell Pipeline Co., 2002).
• Railroads. A Texas court held that a right-of-way the City of Galveston granted a railroad in a public street was an easement in gross, because the railroad owned no land for the easement to attach to (Farmer's Marine Copper Works v. City of Galveston, 1988).
• Billboards. In the Missouri tax sale case, the easement let its holder reach a billboard site and lease it to advertisers. The court said: "It is an easement in gross because there is no dominant tenant, only a servient parcel."

Personal easements in gross:

• Hunting and fishing. Utah's Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman writes: "Hunting rights on private property is an example of an easement in gross" (Utah easements page). California's list above includes fishing and taking game.
• A personal right to cross. A California jury found that two men held an easement for "personal ingress and egress" that was not appurtenant to any land, and the court treated it as limited to them (LeDeit v. Ehlert, 1962).

Conservation easements are a third group, created by statute. Montana's list above includes the conservation of open space. Texas says a conservation easement is valid even though "it is not appurtenant to an interest in real property" and even though "it can be or has been assigned to another holder" (Natural Resources Code § 183.004).

Can an easement in gross be transferred?

Often yes for a commercial easement, and often no for a personal one, but the rule is different in each state.

The old common-law rule was no. The Utah Supreme Court stated it in Crane: "According to the traditional general rule, an easement in gross is merely a personal interest in the real estate of another, and it cannot be transferred by assignment, inheritance, or otherwise."

The modern rule makes an exception for commercial easements. The 1944 Restatement of Property, as that court quoted it, says: "Easements in gross, if of a commercial character, are alienable property interests." In 2002 the Fifth Circuit, citing the later Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes § 4.6, put it this way: "At common law, easements in gross were historically presumed to be non-transferable, but the almost universally accepted rule is now that easements in gross taken for commercial purposes, particularly public utility purposes such as railroads, telephone lines, and pipelines, are freely transferable property interests" (Canova).

Here is how five states put their own rule.

• California: transferable unless made personal. "In California an easement in gross is both assignable and inheritable unless restricted by proper language to certain individuals" (LeDeit, 1962). The rule comes from the Civil Code. Sections 654 and 802 declare these servitudes to be property, and section 1044 says: "Property of any kind may be transferred, except as otherwise provided by this article" (Collier v. Oelke, 1962).
• Indiana: set by statute, with dates. A commercial easement in gross, as Indiana defines it above, that was created after June 30, 1989 "may be alienated, inherited, or assigned in whole or in part unless the instrument creating the easement provides otherwise." Other easements in gross created after July 6, 1961 may be transferred "if the instrument that created the easement in real property states that the easement may be alienated, inherited, or assigned." A separate section validates certain transfers made before April 1, 1990 (IC 32-23-2-2, 32-23-2-3 and 32-23-2-6).
• Utah: commercial yes, personal generally no. The ombudsman's page says: "In general, an easement in gross is not transferrable." In Crane, the Utah Supreme Court held that a commercial easement in gross is transferable, so ranchers who took over from earlier users could count those users' years of driving cattle across the land.
• Maine: the parties' intent decides. In 1987 Maine's highest court wrote: "An easement in gross is a purely personal right, is not assignable, and terminates upon the death of the individual for whom it was created" (O'Neill v. Williams). In 1999, over a two-justice dissent, it held that "an easement in gross may be assignable" when the deed shows that intent. The deed there reserved the easement to the grantor and his "heirs and assigns." The court did not decide whether a commercial purpose alone would be enough (O'Donovan v. McIntosh).
• Texas: personal unless the document says otherwise. "Although easements 'in gross' are personal to the grantee only, and are generally not assignable or transferrable, the parties may create an assignable easement in gross through an express assignment provision" (Farmer's Marine, 1988). The Texas report gives the usual wording: "The terms, conditions and provisions of this contract shall extend to and be binding upon the grantee, his heirs, successors and assigns."

Missouri follows the commercial exception too: "under the modern rule easements in gross are assignable if commercial in character" (Kansas City Area Transportation Authority v. Ashley, 1972).

What the comparison shows. In each of these states, the sources support transferring a commercial easement under the conditions described above. Indiana also makes the creation date matter, so assignment wording alone does not settle every older easement there. The states part ways when the document is silent and when the right is personal. So the first thing to read in a recorded easement is who it was granted to and whether it names "successors and assigns."

Can the holder share an easement in gross with another company?

This is called dividing or apportioning the easement. It comes up when a utility lets a second company use its strip or its poles. Courts ask whether the easement is exclusive, whether the new use fits the purpose in the grant, and whether it adds to the burden on the land.

• Missouri: an exclusive easement can be apportioned. In 1922, subdivision trustees granted easements to a telephone company and an electric utility. About 60 years later a cable company strung its cable there under licenses from both. The court held the easements exclusive and so apportionable: "the term 'exclusive' refers to the exclusion of the owner and possessor of the servient tenement from participation in the rights granted, not to the number of different easements in and over the same land." Adding "a single coaxial cable to the existing poles" did not increase the burden (Henley).
• Michigan: the same result for an easement gained by long use. A power company with a prescriptive easement for its lines let a cable company use the same poles. The court held that "a commercial, exclusive easement in gross acquired by prescription can be apportioned unless contrary to the terms of the servitude, or unless the division unreasonably increases the burden on the servient estate," a test the opinion supports by citing "2 Restatement Property, Servitudes, 2d, § 5.9" (Heydon v. MediaOne, 2007).
• Texas: the words of the grant set the limit. An easement for "an electric transmission or distribution line or system" did not let a cable company string television lines, because a third party's use "cannot exceed the rights expressly conveyed to the original easement holder" (Marcus Cable Associates v. Krohn, 2002).

Easement in gross vs. easement appurtenant

• Who benefits. In gross: a person or a company. Appurtenant: a parcel of land.
• Parcels involved. In gross: one, the servient estate. Appurtenant: two, dominant and servient. Our easement appurtenant guide follows one driveway easement through a sale, a subdivision and a merger.
• What happens on a sale. An appurtenant easement passes with the benefited parcel. An easement in gross stays with its holder, who can assign it only as the rules above allow. A sale of the servient land does not by itself end either kind; recording and notice rules decide what a particular buyer takes subject to.

When a document doesn't say which kind it creates, courts work it out. Three rules from the cases:

• Is there land for it to benefit? Maine held an easement was in gross because its holder "owned no dominant estate to which the easement could be appurtenant" (O'Donovan). Utah reasoned the same way in Crane, where none of the ranchers owned land next to the property they crossed.
• A close call goes to appurtenant. Maine's rule of construction is that "whenever possible an easement be fairly construed to be appurtenant to the land of the person for whose use the easement is created" (O'Neill).
• The label does not control. In the Missouri billboard case, the court said "we do not look solely to the terminology in the document of transfer."

Easement in gross vs. license vs. profit

License. A license is permission, not a property interest. The Texas report puts it this way: "A license is merely permission given to an individual to do some act or acts on the land of another. It does not give rise to an interest in land as do easements. Licenses need not be in writing to be effective and generally are revocable at any time."

Profit. A profit is the right to take something from the land. Maine's court describes it as "the right to take from the land something that is a product of the soil" and has held it "freely assignable even when that right is in gross" (O'Donovan). An easement in gross lets its holder use the land. A profit lets its holder remove part of it.

How does an easement in gross end?

• By its own terms. A grant can run for a set period or end on a condition. In Texas the condition "must be explicitly coupled with a right of forfeiture" (Texas report).
• Release. The holder signs a release and it is recorded. In Indiana a recorded release "must cross-reference the original easement document" and show the current owner's name as it appears in the county's property tax records (IC 32-23-2-5).
• Merger. Montana extinguishes a servitude "by the vesting of the right to the servitude and the right to the servient tenement in the same person." A conservation easement is the exception: it "may not be extinguished by taking fee title to the land" (MCA 70-17-111).
• Abandonment. Disuse alone is not enough in Texas: "Mere nonuse does not constitute abandonment." It takes a clear intent never to use the easement again. Where a railroad did abandon its right-of-way, the U.S. Supreme Court said: "if the beneficiary of the easement abandons it, the easement disappears, and the landowner resumes his full and unencumbered interest in the land" (Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, 2014).
• Death of the holder, for a personal easement. Maine's 1987 opinion is quoted above. The Texas report gives the general rule that an easement in gross "terminates upon death of the individual owner or the demise of the business," and notes authority to the contrary where a written instrument expressly makes it assignable. In California's LeDeit case, the injunctions protecting the two men's personal easement "cease after the death of respondents."
• Condemnation. The Texas report lists it among the ways an easement ends by operation of law: "condemnation will terminate all existing easements across the condemned land."

Easements in gross when you are buying or developing land

Utility and pipeline easements across a development tract are usually in gross: the power line, the gas main, the pipeline, the fiber route. There is no neighboring owner to bargain with. Start by finding out who holds the easement today and getting the recorded instrument, if there is one. A right gained by long use may have no recorded grant. Check for a court judgment establishing it, and look into how the land was used.

How to find them

1. The title commitment. Go to Schedule B, Part II. On the 2021 ALTA form, the policy "will include the following Exceptions unless cleared to the satisfaction of the Company" (2021 ALTA commitment). Recorded easements the title company found are listed there. Our title commitment guide explains the parts.
2. The recorded instrument. Order every easement listed. The exception line gives a name and a date. The grant gives the rest, and the next list shows what to read for.
3. The survey. An ALTA/NSPS land title survey must summarize the easements burdening the surveyed property that are identified in the title evidence the surveyor was given or obtained, and note when "its location cannot be determined from the record document," when "it is a blanket easement," and when the surveyor has information that "it may have been released or otherwise terminated" (2026 standards, Section 6.C.ii). A state-standard boundary survey may show fewer easements unless the surveyor receives the title documents.
4. Pipeline maps. The federal National Pipeline Mapping System shows gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines by county and has a tool to find the operators in an area. It warns that "the spatial accuracy of pipeline data in the NPMS is +/-500 feet" and that "Distribution and gathering pipelines are not included in the NPMS." It shows that a line exists, not where the easement is.
5. Use with no document. An easement in gross can arise from long use. The Michigan power line easement above was prescriptive, and so was the cattle trail in Utah. Our prescriptive easement guide covers the periods by state.

Four things to look for in the grant

• "Successors and assigns." Look for wording that shows the parties meant the easement to be assignable, then read any limit on who may receive it.
• "Exclusive." In the Missouri and Michigan cases above, an exclusive commercial easement could be shared with another company, within the easement's permitted use and without unreasonably adding to the burden on the land.
• The purpose clause. A grant limited to an electric line kept cable out in Texas. Missouri read grants to a telephone company and an electric utility to allow it.
• A width and a location. If the grant gives neither, it is a blanket easement, and its footprint on your site plan is unknown until someone defines it.

What to check before an offer

1. Who holds it now? The company named in a decades-old grant may have assigned it. Ask the title company for recorded assignments. Then call the operator's right-of-way department with the recording number and ask which entity holds the easement today.
2. Is it fixed or blanket? A fixed strip can be drawn on the plan and netted out. For a blanket easement, ask whether the holder will record a defined corridor or a partial release.
3. What can you build or pave on it? The grant and the holder's own rules decide. Our utility easement guide compares what six utilities and towns allow for fences, driveways, parking and buildings, and lists published widths.
4. Will the holder consent to crossings? Ask for its requirements for street, driveway and utility crossings before you draw the layout, and get consent in writing.
5. Can it be moved? Do not assume a court will order it. Washington adopted the Uniform Easement Relocation Act, which lets a servient owner relocate some easements through a civil action. The act "may not be used to relocate" a "public utility easement, conservation easement, or negative easement," and it "does not apply to relocation of an easement by consent" (RCW 64.65.120). So in Washington this court procedure is not available for a public utility easement. Ask the holder about an agreed relocation, and have an attorney check the grant and any other law that applies.
6. Is it still alive? Do not rely on disuse. Look for a recorded release, and ask the surveyor about any note that an easement may have been terminated.

Road corridors and access easements raise different questions. Those are in our easement vs. right-of-way guide.

Where Pillar fits

Pillar's map layers show zoning, floodplain, wetlands, utilities, roads and city limits over parcel boundaries, with coverage that varies by dataset. A mapped line can prompt the easement search. The recorded grant, the title commitment and the survey answer it.

Quick answers

What is an easement in gross in simple terms? A right to use someone else's land that belongs to a person or company, not to a neighboring property. A power company's line across a farm is the standard example.

Does an easement in gross run with the land? The burden can: a sale of the servient land does not by itself end it, though recording and notice rules decide what a particular buyer takes subject to. The benefit belongs to the holder, not to any parcel, which is what separates it from an easement appurtenant.

Can an easement in gross be transferred? A commercial one usually can and a personal one often cannot, but each state has its own rule. California allows transfer unless the easement was made personal, Indiana sets the rule by statute, and Texas looks for an express assignment provision.

What is a commercial easement in gross? One whose use "results primarily in economic benefit rather than personal satisfaction," in the test Utah's Supreme Court adopted. Utility lines, pipelines, railroads and billboards are examples.

Does an easement in gross end when the holder dies? A personal one can. Maine's court said so in 1987, and the Texas report states it as the general rule. A commercial easement held by a company does not depend on anyone's lifetime.

How do you terminate an easement in gross? It depends on the state and on the easement's terms. The examples above cover expiration, a recorded release, merger (with Montana's exception for conservation easements), abandonment and condemnation. In Texas, abandonment takes more than disuse: it needs a clear intent never to use the easement again.