Legal Definitions - accession

Accession refers to the legal principle where an item of property, an improvement, or a product becomes legally attached to or incorporated into another, more significant item of property. This attachment can occur naturally, through human labor, or by combining different goods. When accession occurs, the added item typically becomes part of the principal item, and its ownership or legal status often follows that of the main property.

• Example 1: Improvements to Personal Property under a Loan Agreement

  Imagine a small business that takes out a loan to purchase a new, high-performance engine for its existing delivery van. The loan is secured by the van itself. Once the new engine is installed, it becomes an accession to the van. It's a significant improvement physically united with the vehicle, enhancing its functionality, but the van remains the principal item. If the business were to default on the loan, the lender's security interest in the van would typically extend to the new engine as an accession, because it has become an integral part of the secured collateral.

• Example 2: Additions to Real Estate

  Consider a homeowner who builds a custom-designed gazebo and a new paved driveway on their property. These additions are considered accessions to the real estate. They are permanent improvements that become legally united with the land. When the homeowner later decides to sell the house, the gazebo and driveway are generally included in the sale as part of the property, even though they were added after the original purchase, because they have become integral parts of the real estate. Similarly, if a river gradually deposits new soil along a property's bank, that new land would also be an accession to the property.

• Example 3: Products from Bequeathed Assets in a Will

  Suppose a will specifies that a particular collection of vintage comic books is to be left to a nephew. After the will is written but before the testator's death, the testator acquires several rare, first-edition issues that perfectly complement and significantly increase the value of the original collection. These newly acquired comic books, which enhance and expand the original collection, could be considered accessions to the devised asset. Depending on the specific wording of the will and the testator's intent, these additions would generally pass to the nephew along with the original collection, as they are integral enhancements or products of the bequeathed item.