Easement Agreement - Indiana

INDIANA EASEMENT AGREEMENT

Recordable event: CREATION AND CONVEYANCE OF EASEMENT

Recording Information

1. Parties and Property

Grantor / Servient Owner: [FULL LEGAL NAME AND CAPACITY]

Grantee / Easement Holder: [FULL LEGAL NAME AND CAPACITY]

Servient Estate: the Indiana real property described in Exhibit A.

Dominant Estate, if any: the Indiana real property described in Exhibit B.

Easement Area: the area described in Exhibit C and shown on any attached survey or drawing.

Current title instruments: [COUNTY / BOOK AND PAGE / INSTRUMENT NUMBER]

Ind. Code § 32-21-1-13 includes a deed of any interest in land within its conveyance definition. The conveyance must be in writing, executed or signed by the grantor, and acknowledged or proved as permitted by law.

2. Consideration and Title Treatment

Consideration paid or exchanged: [________________________________].

Select the title treatment reviewed for this transaction:

☐ No express title warranty. Grantor creates and conveys only the easement expressly described in this Agreement, without an express representation or warranty of title, priority, fitness, or noninterference.

☐ Express limited title statement: [________________________________].

☐ Other treatment approved by Indiana title counsel: [________________________________].

Do not use generic warranty language unless counsel has identified the intended covenant and current title evidence supports it.

3. Creation, Classification, and Scope

For the consideration stated above, Grantor creates and conveys to Grantee the easement described in this Agreement over the Easement Area.

The parties intend the easement to be:

☐ Appurtenant to the Dominant Estate identified in Exhibit B

☐ Held by the named Grantee without a Dominant Estate

☐ Exclusive, but only to this stated extent: [________________________________]

☐ Nonexclusive

Purpose:

☐ Ingress and egress

☐ Utilities — identify type: [________________________________]

☐ Drainage

☐ Parking

☐ Construction or temporary access

☐ Conservation — use a specialized conservation-easement instrument and review when selected

☐ Other: [________________________________]

Permitted users and benefited parcels: [________________________________]

The exact rights created are:

[____________________________________________________________]

State the width, location, surface, subsurface and air rights, frequency, vehicle or utility types, gates, parking, staging, vegetation work, lateral support, relocation, and expansion rights. A generic purpose label does not add unstated rights under this form.

4. Duration and Commencement

Effective date: [__/__/____] or upon [________________________________].

☐ Perpetual, subject to a legally sufficient termination route

☐ Fixed term ending [__/__/____]

☐ Other duration or stated condition: [________________________________]

Any expiration condition must be objective, capable of proof, and coordinated with Section 10. Recording is not made a condition of the conveyance by this form; counsel must draft any different intended rule expressly and assess its title consequences.

5. Use Standards and Reserved Rights

Grantee may use the Easement Area only for the stated purpose and within the stated scope.

Access hours or operational limits: [________________________________]

Construction and installation standards: [________________________________]

Permits and governmental approvals allocated to: [________________________________]

Restoration after work: [________________________________]

Grantor's retained use, subject to the express easement rights: [________________________________]

Prohibited uses: [________________________________]

Relocation, if any, requires: [WRITTEN CONSENT / CONDITIONS / COST ALLOCATION / NEW DESCRIPTION / RECORDED AMENDMENT].

6. Maintenance, Costs, and Risk Allocation

This form does not impose a fixed insurance limit, indemnity, liability cap, consequential-damages exclusion, or force-majeure allocation. Any negotiated provision must identify the covered conduct, claims, parties, insurance interaction, survival, and nonwaivable limits:

[____________________________________________________________]

7. Title, Priority, Marital Status, and Consent Gate

• ☐ Current title evidence identifies every owner of the Servient Estate and any Dominant Estate.
• ☐ The legal descriptions and Easement Area were prepared or reviewed by a qualified surveyor or title professional.
• ☐ Existing easements, restrictions, leases, mineral interests, utilities, possession rights, and access rights were reviewed.
• ☐ Each mortgagee, lienholder, tenant, co-owner, association, governmental entity, spouse, and other person whose consent, subordination, joinder, or approval may be required has been identified.
• ☐ Marital status and any tenancy by the entireties, joint-tenancy, or other spousal interest were investigated rather than assumed.
• ☐ The intended priority against existing and future interests is documented.
• ☐ Zoning, permitting, environmental, drainage, utility, road-access, and subdivision requirements were reviewed.

Ind. Code § 32-21-4-1 requires recording in the recorder's office for the county where the land is located. It gives a conveyance priority according to recording time and addresses later good-faith purchasers, lessees, and mortgagees whose instruments are first recorded. Recording does not establish ownership, authority, adequate descriptions, required consent, lawful purpose, or priority over an earlier interest.

For land held by spouses together, counsel must identify the actual estate and required signers. Ind. Code § 32-17-3-4 addresses a joint spousal deed conveying interests held as tenants in common, joint tenants, or tenants by the entireties; this form does not infer ownership or authorize one spouse to convey another's interest.

8. Transfer, Benefit, and Burden

The intended transfer rules are:

[____________________________________________________________]

For an appurtenant easement, identify how the intended benefit and burden relate to the Dominant and Servient Estates. For an easement without a Dominant Estate, identify whether and how the holder may assign, divide, license, or permit use by affiliates, contractors, customers, tenants, or successors.

No assignment or successor clause expands the physical scope or purpose stated in Section 3.

9. Breach and Remedies

Notice address and method: [________________________________]

Cure period, if appropriate: [________________________________]

Available remedies remain subject to applicable law and proof. This Agreement does not make injunctive relief, specific performance, attorney fees, self-help, damages, waiver of security or bond, unilateral reformation, arbitration, exclusive forum, or jury waiver automatic.

Negotiated remedies or dispute terms, if any, must be separately drafted and reviewed:

[____________________________________________________________]

A breach notice, default declaration, bankruptcy event, period of nonuse, or one party's recorded affidavit does not terminate or erase the easement under this form.

10. Amendment and Termination

This easement may be amended or terminated only through a legally sufficient route applicable to every estate and interest then existing, followed by recording when needed to protect title.

Potential routes selected and drafted by counsel:

☐ Recorded release signed and acknowledged by the current easement holder and every other required person

☐ Recorded agreement signed and acknowledged by all required current owners and holders

☐ Stated fixed expiration or condition: [________________________________]

☐ Recorded court order or judgment

☐ Other legally reviewed route: [________________________________]

Nonuse, breach, bankruptcy, transfer, a private affidavit, condemnation, or common ownership is not declared by this form to terminate the easement automatically. Indiana counsel must analyze abandonment, merger, condemnation, prescription, release, and other doctrines on the facts.

11. Recording, Tax, and Description Review

Ind. Code §§ 32-21-2-3 and 32-21-2-7 require a recordable instrument to carry a qualifying acknowledgment or proof and other required recording information. Section 32-21-2-3 also prescribes mailing-address statements for a conveyance. Ind. Code § 33-42-9-12 governs the notarial certificate's date, signature, jurisdiction, officer title, seal, and commission information.

At the conclusion of the instrument, Ind. Code § 36-2-11-15 requires the preparer's identification and a Social Security number redaction statement unless an exception applies. When it applies, Section 36-2-11-16 addresses signer, witness, and notarial-officer name identification and consistency. Section 36-2-11-16.5 supplies page-size, paper, margin, ink, and type requirements for covered instruments.

Before presentation for recording, Indiana counsel or the closing professional shall confirm:

• current county cover-sheet, indexing, parcel, return-address, original-signature, and electronic-recording requirements;
• whether county-auditor endorsement, sales-disclosure, tax-statement, transfer-fee, or other tax processing applies to the selected transaction;
• the legal sufficiency and recordability of Exhibits A through C and every incorporated document;
• every consent, joinder, subordination, release, and prior-instrument cross-reference;
• that names and capacities are identical in the body, signatures, and acknowledgments; and
• that any electronic execution or submission uses an authorized process and preserves all conveyance, acknowledgment, certificate, and recorder requirements.

12. Execution

Grantor

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed legal name: [________________________________]

Capacity: [________________________________]

Marital status: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Additional Grantor / Spouse / Co-Owner, If Required

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed legal name: [________________________________]

Capacity or interest: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Grantee — Acceptance of Express Obligations

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed legal name: [________________________________]

Capacity: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Indiana Acknowledgment

Use a certificate matching the signer's actual individual or representative capacity and the place and method of notarization. Ind. Code § 32-21-2-7 recognizes an acknowledgment complying with Ind. Code §§ 33-42-0.5-2 and 33-42-9-12 and substantially similar to the following:

State of [________________________________]

County of [________________________________]

Before me, [NOTARIAL OFFICER NAME AND TYPE], this [____] day of [____________], [SIGNER NAME]:

☐ acknowledged the execution of the foregoing Easement Agreement; or

☐ if signing in a representative capacity, declared that the signer signed the Easement Agreement with proper authority and as the act of [IDENTIFIED INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY].

Notarial officer signature: ________________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Title: [________________________________]

Commission number, if applicable: [________________________________]

Commission expiration: [__/__/____]

Indiana county of commission or primary employment, if applicable: [________________________________]

Official seal: [AFFIX AS REQUIRED]

Repeat or adapt the acknowledgment for each signer whose acknowledgment is required.

13. Exhibits

• Exhibit A: Legal Description of Servient Estate
• Exhibit B: Legal Description of Dominant Estate, if appurtenant
• Exhibit C: Legal Description and Depiction of Easement Area
• Exhibit D: Maintenance, Cost, or Construction Specifications, if used
• Exhibit E: Consents, Subordinations, or Priority Instruments, if used

Required Conclusion Statements

Use the first two statements when Ind. Code § 36-2-11-15 applies. The conveyance mailing-address statement follows separately.

This instrument was prepared by [NAME].

I affirm, under the penalties for perjury, that I have taken reasonable care to redact each Social Security number in this document, unless required by law. [NAME]

The mailing address to which statements should be mailed under IC 6-1.1-22-8.1 is [ADDRESS]. The mailing address of the grantee is [STREET OR RURAL-ROUTE ADDRESS].

Sources and References

• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 26-2-8
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 32-17-1
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 32-21-1
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 32-21-2
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 32-21-4
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 32-17-3
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 6-1.1-22
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 33-42-9
• Indiana Code 2026 — IC 36-2-11