Estates Flashcards
Fee simple determinable
-Termination is AUTOMATIC; goes back to GRANTOR
-Fully alienable, devisable, descendible (subject to condition)
-If transferred to another party, property is still subject to that same condition
-Created w/ words of limitation suggesting either duration or passage of time
-Such that the transfer lasts forever unless limitation occurs. If limitation occurs, property reverts back to grantor/transferor (“possibility of reverter”).
-Accompanied by a future interest (in an ordinary case, this interest is retained by transferor or his heirs) → can be expressly retained or arise by operation of law
Ex: O conveys Blackacre to the Hartford School Board, so long as the premises are used for school purposes
3 types of defeasible fees
1- Fee simple determinable
2 - Fee simple subject to condition subsequent
3 - Fee simple subject to executory limitation
Fee simple subject to condition subsequent
-Termination is NOT AUTOMATIC; goes back to GRANTOR/HEIRS
-Only terminates if grantor/grantor’s heirs exercise right of entry (via sending notice or bringing suit)
-Fully alienable, devisable, descendible (subject to condition)
-In most states, right of entry is devisable by will. In all states, right of entry is descendable.
-Created w/ words that suggest a condition, limitation, or restraint on the use
-Future interest retained is called right of entry (a/k/a power of termination) which can only be retained by transferor or his heirs
-Always wise to expressly include this language if this is your intention when conveying land
Ex: O conveys Whiteacre to the Hartford School Board, its successors and assigns, but if the premises aren’t used for school purposes, the grantor has the right to reenter and retake the premises.
“But if…” / “on condition that if the premises…” / etc.
Defeasible
-Type of fee simple
-It will terminate, prior to its natural end point, upon the occurrence of some specified future event
Fee simple subject to executory limitation
-Termination is AUTOMATIC; goes to THIRD PARTY
-Created when a grantor transfers what appears to be a fee simple subject to condition subsequent and in the same instrument creates a future interest in a third party rather than in himself
Ex: O conveys land to Pizza Hut, but if it ceases to use the land as a pizza restaurant, to the City Library”
2 distinctions between a “fee simple subject to executory limitation” and “fee simple subject to condition subsequent”?
(1) The type of future interest following it
(2) if the condition is breached in a fee simple subject to condition subsequent, it’s forfeited only if the right of entry is exercised, but the fee simple subject to executory limitation is forfeited IMMEDIATELY, regardless of any action taken.
alienability
able to convey estate to another
Words of limitation
WHAT? (to A and for life); denote what estate the grantor has given
-“…for life”
Words of purchase
-WHO? (to A for life); denote who is the transferee of the grant
-“To A”
Issue
(a/k/a descendant) after a surviving spouse takes a share, surviving “issue” takes the rest of the estate to exclusion of all other relatives
Escheat
if a person dies intestate w/o any legal heirs, the person’s property escheats to the state where the property is located
Law of Waste
Holder of possessory interest is entitled to the full use and enjoyment of the property, but he must not commit “waste.”; “Waste” is a conduct that reduces the value of a future interest.
Devisable
capable of being transferred by will
Executory interest
future interest in 3rd party
Rule of Convenience
class closes when at least one member is entitled to possession; later born gets nothing
