Estates Basics

Question 1

What is the terms for relatives like aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, and sisters?

Answer 1

Collaterals

Question 2

What is a “devisee”?

Answer 2

A beneficiary of real property under a will.

Question 3

What’s wrong with the following sentence? How would you correct it?

All of the heirs gathered at the lawyer’s office to learn what the decedent had left them in his will.

Answer 3

“Heirs” are those who take in the absence of a will. “Devisees” are those who take under a will.

Change to: All of the devisees gathered at the lawyer’s office to learn what the decedent had left them in his will.

Question 4

Fill in the blank: Anne Smith has made an appointment with her lawyer to have her will drawn. She intends to ______ her house to her son.

Answer 4

Devise

Question 5

Fill in the blank: Jeremy Parker died _____ [without a will].

Answer 5

Intestate

Question 6

Are “convey” and “sell” synonyms?

Answer 6

Not quite. To “convey” includes both transfer by sale and transfer by gift.

Question 7

Fill in the blank: The _____ [dead person] has no heirs.

Answer 7

Decedent

Question 8

Name some examples of a person’s collaterals.

Answer 8

Siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Question 9

What’s wrong with the following sentence? How would you correct it?

Since Harold did not have a will, Maude is the devisee of his entire estate.

Answer 9

A “devisee” is one who receives real property under a will. Maude is the “heir” of Harold’s estate.

Change to: Since Harold did not have a will, Maude is the heir of his entire estate.

Question 10

What is the term for a person’s children and grandchildren?

Answer 10

Issue

Question 11

What is the term for a person’s parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents?

Answer 11

Ancestors

Question 12

Fill in the blank: Hazel’s will left a ____ [an item of personal property disposed of by a will] to her brother.

Answer 12

Bequest

Question 13

Fill in the blank: If Hazel had not died ____ [with a will], all of her estate would have passed to her daughter.

Answer 13

Testate

Question 14

Name some examples of a person’s “issue.”

Answer 14

Children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren

Question 15

Fill in the blank: Francine had never married. She died without a will, and all of her blood relatives had died many years before. Therefore, her property will ___ to the state.

Answer 15

Escheat

Question 16

What’s wrong with the following sentence?

All of Barbara’s heirs are coming to visit her this summer.

Answer 16

A living person has no heirs.

Question 17

David’s father has just written a will naming David as the sole beneficiary of the family business. What property interest does David have as a result of being named in the will?

Answer 17

None. A will creates no interests in property until the testator dies.

Question 18

What is the name for the part of the conveyance that tells you who is receiving the conveyed interest?

Answer 18

Words of purchase

Question 19

What is the name for the part of the conveyance that tells you what kind of interest that person is receiving?

Answer 19

Words of limitation

Question 20

Which estate(s) can be said to be “absolute”?

Answer 20

Only a fee simple can be absolute.

Question 21

What are the inherently limited estates?

Answer 21

A life estate and term of years. (Plus, a fee tail.)

Question 22

What kinds of estates “end naturally”?

Answer 22

A life estate and term of years. (Plus, a fee tail.)

Question 23

Which kind of estate ends automatically upon the happening of a limiting condition?

Answer 23

A determinable estate.

Question 24

Which kind of estate does NOT end automatically upon the happening of a limiting condition?

Answer 24

An estate subject to condition subsequent.

Question 25

Name four examples of words of phrases of “temporal limitation” that signal a determinable estate.

Answer 25

until, while, so long as, during

Question 26

Name four examples of words of phrases of “temporal limitation” that signal an estate subject to condition subsequent.

Answer 26

but if, provided that, on condition that, however

Question 27

Which allows the grantor to postpone the decision about whether to enforce the decision? (Determinable or Subject to a Condition Subsequent)

Answer 27

An estate subject to a condition subsequent

Question 28

Which uses the condition as the durational marker defining the length of the estate granted? (Determinable or Subject to a Condition Subsequent)

Answer 28

Determinable estate

Question 29

In which estate does the occurrence of the condition trigger the grantor’s right to interrupt the prior estate? (Determinable or Subject to a Condition Subsequent)

Answer 29

An estate subject to a condition subsequent