Which of the following is a way that easements can be terminated?

Easements can indeed be terminated through the merger of the parcels of land, which occurs when the dominant and servient estates come into the same ownership. When one person owns both the property that benefits from the easement (the dominant estate) and the property that is subject to the easement (the servient estate), the easement is no longer necessary, as there is no need for one parcel to provide access or usage rights to the other. This legal principle is grounded in property law, where the unity of ownership extinguishes the easement because it no longer fulfills its purpose.

The other options presented do not effectively lead to the termination of an easement. Creating a new easement does not extinguish an existing one; it simply adds to the rights over the properties involved. Transferring an easement to a different owner typically allows it to remain in effect under the new ownership unless specific conditions are met that would allow for its termination. Modifying the terms of an easement does not end it but rather alters the conditions under which it operates. Each of these alternatives retains the existing easement rights, reflecting that termination requires a more definitive action, such as the merger of the parcels.