Legal Definitions - fructus stantes

Fructus stantes refers to crops or produce that are still attached to the land on which they grow. In legal terms, these items are considered part of the real estate itself until they are harvested or physically separated from the soil or plant.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Real Estate Transaction: Imagine a large farm with fields of corn that are nearly ready for harvest in late summer. If the farmer decides to sell the entire property, including the land and all improvements, the unharvested corn still standing in the fields would be considered fructus stantes. This means that, unless the sales contract specifically states otherwise, the buyer of the farm would acquire not only the land but also the right to harvest those crops, as they are legally treated as part of the real estate until they are cut or picked.

• Property Damage and Insurance: Consider a severe windstorm that sweeps through an orchard, knocking down many apples that were still attached to the trees. At the moment the storm hit, these apples were fructus stantes. An insurance policy covering damage to the real property (the orchard itself) might therefore cover the loss of these unharvested apples, as they were an integral part of the real estate before being detached by the storm. If the apples had already been picked and stored in a barn, they would no longer be fructus stantes and would be considered personal property, likely requiring a different type of insurance coverage.

• Inheritance and Estates: When a landowner passes away, their estate includes both real property (like land and buildings) and personal property (like vehicles, furniture, or harvested goods). If there are grapevines with grapes still on them in a vineyard owned by the deceased, those grapes are fructus stantes. They would typically be distributed as part of the real estate to the heir who inherits the land, rather than being separated and distributed as personal property to a different beneficiary, unless the will or estate plan explicitly directs otherwise.