Estate System Flashcards
1
Q
Division of Ownership
A
- can be divided by time or shared concurrently (or both)
property law reflects tendency to avoid multiple interests in a resource, but this tendency must often be overcome to obtain benefits of co-ownership (ie. specialization or risk-spreading)
2
Q
Fee Simple Absolute
A
- means you are the full owner of the real property
- in personal property, this is just referred to as full ownership/absolute ownership
- the largest package of ownership rights, from which others are carved
- indefinite in time
3
Q
Defeasible Fee
A
- similar to a fee simple absolute, but it can end under certain circumstances (grantor imposes circumstances under which this would end)
4
Q
Life Estate
A
- means you get it for the full term of your natural life, but your interest ends as soon as you die
5
Q
Livery of Seisin
A
- dealt w/ transfer of land in feudal system - needed to be done in front of other people, often accompanied by handing over stick or twig (b/c didn’t really have land records back then)
6
Q
What happens after a life estate?
A
- reversion - means the title goes back to the grantor (grantor retains future interest)
- remainder (future interest gets transferred to a third person)
- note that reversion is the default - if you want a remainder in someone else, then you’d need to say so
7
Q
How to Convey a Fee Simple
A
- language is typically along the lines of “to X and her heirs” - means no limitations on your ownership (until you die, you only have heirs apparent) and you can choose who to leave it to (vs granting “to X for life”)
8
Q
Vested vs. Contingent
A
- vested means the recipient for the remainder is known (no conditions beyond the termination of the estate of whoever goes first - you know who’s going to get it)
- contingent means there’s some uncertainty as to who gets the interest (it’s dependent on some sort of condition)
9
Q
Conservation of Estates
A
- usually the last interest needs to be a fee simple (if there’s no explicit fee simple, you assume reversion - goes to grantor + heirs through intestacy)
- technically means that all the interests the grantor has needs to add up to whatever the grantor started w/ (nemo dat though - grantor can’t give any interests he/she doesn’t have to begin w/)
10
Q
Williams v. Estate of Williams - Facts
A
- Williams dies + has a holographic will - he leaves his far to three named daughters (out of 9 children total)
- will says “to have and to hold during their lives” as long as they remained single, b/c they took care of Williams and his wife and did not marry
- Plaintiff = last surviving sister -> she seeks a construction of the will (the defendants are other heirs-at-law of Williams)
11
Q
Williams v. Estate of Williams - Decision and Reasoning
A
- court says the 3 named sisters had life estate (defeasible upon marriage), + heirs at law had reversion in fee simple
- tries to discern testator’s overall purpose (points to the language on the daughters’ interest - intent was to provide for them during their lives, underscored by idea that they lost the interest if married)
- notes interrorum clause - others must’ve had some sort of interest
12
Q
Interrorum Clause
A
- clause in a will that says if you do certain kinds of challenges, you lose everything (trying to defer people from challenging something)
- in the Williams case, any heirs who challenged the three daughters’ interest would’ve lost their right to Williams’ estate- idea is that in order to lose the interest, they must’ve had something to begin with
13
Q
Holographic Will
A
- will written in testator’s own hand + signed by the testator
- some states exempt such wills from requirement of attestation by witnesses
14
Q
Intestacy Statute
A
- default regime that applies when people don’t have wills
15
Q
Rule Against Perpetuities
A
- designed to prevent people from controlling the future too far into the future - idea that interests shouldn’t vest too remotely (not a rule against interests lasting too long)
- a lot of states have been abolishing this in an effort to attract trusts
- basically, interests need to be vested by a certain time period (uncertainty as to who will get the property needs to be resolved within a certain time period)
