Ownership - Present Estates Flashcards
What are the types of present interests?
- Fee
- Life
- Term
Present Estates
- An estate is a freehold if immobile & for indeterminable duration
- Immobile - Either land or some interest affixed to land
- Indeterminable Duration - as opposed to a leasehold, which is a limited duration)
- Owner of present estate has the right to currently possess the property
What is a Fee Simple Absolute?
- Absolute ownership of potentially infinite duration
- Freely alienable (easily bought or sold)
- No accompanying future interest
- A conveyance is presumed to be FSA unless terms express a contrary intent
How is a FSA terminated?
Doesn’t term. unless owner dies intestate w/out heirs
- Prop. escheats to the state
What is a defeasible fee estate?
- Potentially infinite duration
- Subj. to term. by the occurrence of an event
What is a Fee Simple Determinable?
- Created When grantor uses durational language (until, while, so long as)
- Alienable, Devisable, and Descendible
- BUT always subj. to a stated condition
How does a Fee Simple Determinable Terminate?
- Automatically on the happening of a stated event AND
- Reverts back to the grantor (possibility of reverter)
What is the Future Interest associated with a Fee Simple Determinabel ?
Grantor retains possibility of reverter
- estate auto. reverts back to the grantor
- Freely alienable by grantor during life and upon his death
What is a Fee Simple Subject to Condition Subsequent?
- Present Fee Simple limited by specific conditional language
- “upon condition that”, “provided that”, “but if”
- Alienable, Devisable, descendible
How is Fee Simple Subj. to Cond. Subsequent Terminated?
- Grantor reserves the right to terminate estate upon happening of a stated event
- Grantor must affirmatively demonstrate intent to terminate
Fee Simple Subject to Condition Subsequent - Future Interest
RIght of Entry
- Grantor must explicitly retain the right to terminate the fee simple subj. to cond. subsequent
- Devisable, Descendible BUT can’t be transferred during owners lifetime
What is a Fee Simple Subject to Executory Interest ?
- Created when grantor uses condition lang. or durational lang.
- If cond. or duration happens, then prop. int. granted reverts to a 3d party
How is Fee Simple Subject to Executory Interest Terminated?
- When the occurrence of the specified condition occurs the present fee simple termiantes auto.
- Title passes to 3d party (not the grantor)
Fee Simple Subj to Executory Interest - Future Interest
Executory Interest
What is a Fee Tail?
Freehold estate that limits the estate to the grantee’s lineal blood descendants by specific words of limitation “heirs of the body”
- Eliminated in most states
- treated as a FSA estate
What is a Life Estate ?
Present Possessory Estate limited in duratio by a life
- Lang. must be clear and measured in terms of a life not a number of years
- Fully transferable during the life of the pers. by whome the LE is measured
- If measured by grantees life, Not devisable or Descendible
How is a Life Estate Terminated?
- Upon end of measuring life, title reverts to the grantor or specified remainderman
What is the future Interest of a Life Estate?
- Reversion
What is a life estate pur autre vie?
When LE measured by the life of a third party (not the grantee)
What are a Life Tenant’s Rights/Duties?
- Right to Possess
- Right to collect rents/profits, lease/sell/mortgage,
- Must pay taxes on rental value of land
- Duty not to commit waste
Doctrine of Waste
- Limits the Rights of a holder of a LE
- Life tenant must deliver property in same cond. it was in when she took poss.
- Future int. in prop. may enter the land & inspect for waste & seek damages & an injunction to prevent waste
What is Affirmative Waste ?
A voluntary Act
- A tenant can’t intentionally or negligently damage prop. attached to it that would damage a person’s future interest in the prop.
- Occurs when Overt conduct causes decrease in prop value
- Can’t consume/exploit nat’l resources unless prior use
- Must make reasonable repairs
What is permissive waste ?
The failure of a life tenant to protect the prop. from damage
- Must take reas. steps to guard against damage to the prop.
- when they fail to do so and damage results its perm. waste
- Must make reas. repairs (up to amount of income produced by the prop.)
- Must pay all prop. taxes & mortg. int.
What is ameliorative waste?
Occurs when a change in use of the prop. increases its prop. value
- Life ten. can alter structures on the prop when a subst. & permanent change in the neighborhood makes it nec. in order to cont. reas. use of the prop.
- So long as prop. value is not diminished
