Estates and Future Interests

Question 1

What are the 5 estates and their future interests?

Answer 1

Fee simple absolute- no future interest
Life estate- Remainder or Reversion
Fee simple determinable- possibility of reverter
Fee simple subject to condition subsequent- right of entry
Fee simple subject to executory limitation- executory limitation

Question 2

What words generally accompany a fee simple determinable, a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, and a fee simple subject to executory limitation?

Answer 2

Fee simple determinale- “As long as,” “while,” “until”, and “during”

Fee simple subject to a condition subsequent- “provided that”, “but if” and “on condition that”

Fee simple subject to an executory limitation- “so long as”,” while”, “during”” until,” “provided that”, and “on condition that”

Question 3

What are three types of waste and how are they defined?

Answer 3

Voluntary Waste\
Results from an affirmative ac that significantly reduces property value (i.e., demolishing a valuable house) Also referred to as affirmative waste

Permissive Waste
Results from failure to take reasonable care to protect the estate. (e.g. failure to make minor repairs or pay property taxes)

Ameliorative Waste
Results from an affirmative act that leads to a substantial change in the property and increases its value (e.g. building a swimming pool)

Question 4

What is the court’s holding in Marenholtz?

Answer 4

The Huttons deed created a fee simple defeasible followed by a possibility of reverter. The court looks at the language “only” followed by “school purposes” to determine this meant there was a mandatory return of the property and not just a permissive return

Question 5

What rule is established in Woodcock v Wood and how was it applied?

Answer 5

A person with a remainder interest in a parcel of land can prohibit a life tenant from destroying structures on the property if they diminishing the property value. However the destruction of the barn in the case though objectionable to plaintiff, did not constitute waste to the property because the value of the property would not be diminished by the barn’s destruction.