What can transfer real estate title by action of nature?

Answer 1

Answer

In property law, the gradual increase in land through natural processes is called 'accretion'. It is more a natural process of 'adding on' and 'subtracting' than a transfer of real estate title.

Accretion can occur by the natural build-up of sediment along a bend in a river that gradually increases the amount of land at that point. A portion of land along the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts eventually grew so large that the state surveyed it and distributed it to the abutters. In the same area, a bend in the winding river moved a considerable distance to the east, becoming more pronounced, leaving dry land on the west side of the river that accrued to the abutters. That same process submerged several ancient river front tracts on the east side of the river, making those old farm tracts vanish, creating a nightmare for researchers trying to document the title to those properties.

The boundaries of land such as undeveloped forest and farm lands that call to streams and brooks change as the courses of the running waters change during periods of high water, low water and severe storms.

Contrast accretion, which is the gradual accumulation of land, to avulsion which is the sudden removal of land caused by a natural catastrophe such as a flood. Land removed from an owner by avulsion remains the property of the original owner. For example, if a hurricane flooded a low lying area and receding flood waters revealed a significant change in the course of a boundary brook or river, the boundary would then be determined by the former location of the brook or river.