Strawperson

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Property law
Part of the common law series
Acquisition of property
Gift  · Adverse possession  · Deed
Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property
Bailment  · Licence
Estates in land
Allodial title  · Fee simple
Life estate  · Fee tail  · Future interest
Concurrent estate  · Leasehold estate
Condominiums
Conveyancing of interests in land
Bona fide purchaser  · Torrens title
Estoppel by deed  · Quitclaim deed
Mortgage  · Equitable conversion
Action to quiet title
Limiting control over future use
Restraint on alienation
Rule against perpetuities
Rule in Shelley's Case
Doctrine of worthier title
Nonpossessory interest in land
Easement  · Profit
Covenant running with the land
Equitable servitude
Related topics
Fixtures  · Waste  · Partition
Riparian water rights
Lateral and subjacent support
Assignment  · Nemo dat
Other areas of the common law
Contract law  · Tort law
Wills and trusts
Criminal Law  · Evidence

A strawperson is a figure not actually intended to have a truly beneficial interest in a property, who is nevertheless conveied said property in order the facilitate a more complicated transaction at law.

Under common law rule, a property owner cannot convey their own property to themselves, the reality of which creates a barrier to certain forms of intended conveyances, most notably, when attempting to create a joint tenant agreement for their property between themselves and another. In order for an individual to create a Will or gift scenario, the grantor makes use of a neutral third party known as a strawperson (often a laywer or the lawyer's secretary), who is conveied the property and in turn creates a second deed that creates the desired legal document conveying property to the original grantor and his/her desired joint tenant(s). This is a legal means of complying with the Four Unities Rule.