Estate Law and Future Interests Flashcards
Estate law is concerned with the properties that define (blank)
- Concerned with the properties that define ownership:
Ex. characteristics of time and conditions relating to use; possession and transferability of the land; use of a conveyance of property to control another’s behavior
Historical definition of a freehold estate
Created by the livery of seisin and protected by the royal courts in England → Fee simple absolute, defeasible fees, and life estates
Historic Definition of Non-freehold estates
not created through the process of livery of seisin and were not granted common law protection until much later. Leaseholds are an example
Definition of Alienability
Power to transfer ownership during owner’s lifetime
Definition of Heirs
Nearist blood relative at time of death, not knon until then
Definition of conveyance
Change in ownership of property
Language of Conveyance:
“Words of Purchase”
Identify grantee; Example: “To X”
Language of Conveyance
“Words of Purchase”
Describe type of interest conveyed
Example: “and his heirs” or “in fee simple absolute”
5 Types of Present Estates
- Fee Simple Absolute
- Fee Tail
- Life Estate
- Leaseholds
- Simple Possessory Interest (SPI)
Highest/Most complete estate that can be owned
Fee Simple Absolute
Fee Simple: used to require the phrase “to X and his heirs” but now many state statutes have relaxed this and assumed fee simple unless (blank)
Unless evidence indicates intent to give less
Fee Simple Determinable automatically creates what?
A possibility of reverter
As long as, during, while, unless
CL Fee Tail
How was it born?
Whats the De Dondis Statute
Fee simple conditional → 13th cent. ECL allowed conveyances where the ownership was confined to descent within the family;
Lawyers got around by someone owning a fee simple conditional but selling a fee simple absolute.
Result was the De Donis statute and the classic fee tail was born
• Parent cannot convey more than he owns and a reversion interest with failure of issue!
Fee Tail
A. If family ran out of “issue” (no more descendants of Sam) the property reverts back to…..
B. (Three) Possibilities when issue runs out:
A. Back to the estate of the original grantor
B. Possibilities when issue runs out:
- Grantor might be living, possession would revert to him
- Grantor might not be living, possession would revert to the grantor’s heirs
- Grantor might have transferred his reversion
Modern Fee Tails, What are they today?
In Ohio?
What is the legal effect of fee tails today that were created before the modern law?
Modern Fee Tail: either fee simple or a life estate in first grantee and remainder in fee simple if grantee has issue
O to A and the heirs of her body
We don’t recognize fee tails aymore, now that ^ is just a fee simple
In Ohio, if you create a fee tail today, you create a life estate in A and a reversion in O
These changes in law are only applied prospectively – does not change the effect of any fee tail interest named before the law was created – there are still “fee tails” in existence today
