Columbia County Easement Deed (Ingress and Egress, Joint Grantors) Form

An ingress and egress easement is the right to travel to and from one parcel across a neighboring parcel, and in Oregon it is granted with the same care and formality as a deed. This form prepares an easement deed by which two grantors who own the burdened land grant a perpetual right of way for access to a grantee, recordable in the county deed records under ORS 93.710.

What the Deed Grants

The grantors own the servient estate, the parcel the right of way crosses. The grantee owns the dominant estate, the parcel the easement serves. The deed conveys a right of passage, pedestrian and vehicular, over a defined easement area; it does not transfer ownership of any land. The grantors keep title and keep the right to use the easement area themselves consistently with the grantee's access.

Appurtenant, So It Runs With the Land

The form sets the easement as appurtenant, meaning it attaches to the dominant estate rather than to the grantee as an individual. Oregon treats an easement that is a useful adjunct of the land it serves as appurtenant unless the instrument shows a mere personal right was intended, the distinction the Oregon Supreme Court drew in Menstell v. Johnson. An appurtenant easement passes automatically with the dominant estate and cannot be transferred apart from it, as the court confirmed in Braat v. Aylett. By identifying both parcels and reciting the appurtenant character, the deed fixes the easement to the land so later owners of both parcels take subject to it and benefit from it.

Nonexclusive Use and Shared Maintenance

Unless an easement instrument says otherwise, Oregon gives the grantee a nonexclusive right and leaves the servient owner free to use the burdened land consistently with the easement. The deed states this expressly. For upkeep, ORS 105.175 provides that the holders keep the easement in repair and share the cost as the creating instrument provides, or, where it is silent, in proportion to use. The form carries a maintenance section for the parties' own arrangement, with the ORS 105.170 to 105.185 scheme filling any gap.

An Easement Is Not a Fee Title Transfer

Because an easement is a nonpossessory interest rather than a transfer of fee title, three statements that Oregon requires on fee title deeds do not appear here: the land use statement of ORS 93.040, the consideration statement of ORS 93.030, and the tax statement mailing address of ORS 93.260 are each keyed to instruments conveying fee title. The deed instead carries what an easement needs: identification of both estates, a described easement area, the operative grant, and acknowledgment by both grantors so the instrument is recordable under ORS 93.710.

Signing and Recording

Both grantors sign before a notary, and the form provides a separate acknowledgment certificate for each. Recording the deed in the county where the property is located gives notice under Oregon's race notice recording act, ORS 93.640, and protects the easement against a later purchaser of the servient estate. The package includes the blank easement deed as a fillable PDF, a plain language guide to every section and the governing statutes and cases, and a completed example filled in for a realistic Deschutes County fact pattern. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.