Property Flashcards
What language is needed to create a fee simple absolute?
“To A”
or
“To A and his heirs.”
Fee Simple Absolute
“To A” or “To A and his heirs”
Absolute ownership for a potentially infinite amount of time.
Devisable, descendable, and alienable.
Future interest: None
“To A” or “To A and his heirs” creates what?
Fee simple absolute.
Fee Tail
“To A and the heirs of his body.”
Pretty rare now.
Lasts as long as there are lineal blood descendants of grantee.
Transfers automatically to grantee’s lineal descendants.
Future interests: Reversion (if held by grantor)
Remainder (if held by 3rd party)
Possibility of reverter (held by grantor)
What does “To A and the heirs of his body” create?
Fee tail
Fee simple determinable
“To A for so long as…” “To A during…” “To A until…”
Must use clear and durational langauge.
If the stated condition is violated, forfeiture is automatic.
It’s devisable, descendable, and alienable, but only alienable subject to the condition. (Mick Jagger rule–You can’t always get what you want.)
Future interest: Possibility of reverter
FSDPOR–Frank Sinatra doesn’t prefer Orville Redenbacher–Fee Simple Determinable Possibility of Reverter
What does “To A for long as . . .” create?
Fee simple determinable.
Fee simple subject to condition subsequent
“To A, but if X occurs, grantor reserves the right to re-enter and retake.”
Must use clear durational language and explicitly carve out the right to re-enter.
Estate is NOT automatically ended, but can be cut short at grantor’s option if the stated condition occurs.
Future interest: Right of re-entry; synonymous with power of termination.
Grantor is Bobby Brown…it’s my prerogative!
What does, “To A, but if X occurs, grantor reserves the right to re-enter and retake” create?
Fee simple to condition subsequent
Fee simple subject to executory limitation
“To A, but if X occurs, then to B.”
Just like fee simple determinable, but if the condition is broken, the estate is forfeited in favor of someone other than grantor.
Future interest: Shifting executory interest
Life Estate
“To A for life.”
Must be in lifetime terms, not terms of years.
Future interest: Reversion
What is A known as in a life estate?
A life tenant
What does, “To A for life” create?
A life estate
What is a life estate pur autre vie?
A life estate that is measured by the life of someone other than the grantor.
What is voluntary or affirmative waste?
Overt conduct that causes a drop in value of the property.
If there is voluntary waste of natural resources, what are the exceptions?
PURGE
PU=Prior use–if it was already used for that then it’s fine.
R= Repairs–nat resources can be used to repair or maintain the property
G= Grant–can be granted the right to use them
E= Exploitation–if the land is only suitable to exploit already (e.g. a quarry or mine)
What is permissive waste?
Basically, neglect.
Land falls into disrepair b/c the tenant is sitting idly by, permitting it to happen.
Standard is maintaining the premises in reasonably good repair and expected to pay ordinary taxes.
What is ameliorative waste?
Life tenant must not engage in acts that will enhance the property’s value unless all further interests are known and consent to it.
What are the future interests capable of creation in the grantor?
Possibility of reverter (only in fee simple determinable)
Right of re-entry/Power of termination (only in fee simple subject to condition subsequent
Reversion: everything else where grantor transfers estate of lesser quantum than he started with. (So not fee simple absolute, fee simple determinable, or fee simple subject to condition subsequent, but basically everything else where the grantor will have a future interest.)
What are the Future interests in transferees?
Vested remainder
Contingent remainder
Executory interest
Are absolute restraints allowed on alienation?
No. If there is an absolute ban on the power to sell or transfer, and there is no reasonable, time-limited purpose, then the restraint is void.
What does, “To A for the life of B” create?
A life estate pur autre vie.
What are the two general rules about life estates?
Life tenant is entitled to all ordinary uses and profits from the land.
Life tenant must not commit waste.
What are the 3 kinds of vested remainders?
Indefeasibly vested remainder
Vested remainder subject to complete defeasance (or subject to total divestment)
Vested remainder subject to open
What are the two different kinds of executory interests?
Shifting executory interest
Springing executory interest
What is the difference in vested and contingent remainder?
A vested remainder is both created in ascertained persons and is not subject to any condition precedent.
A contingent remainder is created in an unascertained person or is subject to any condition precedent, or both.
What is a remainder?
A remainder is a future interest created in a grantee (3rd party) that is capable of becoming possessory upon the expiration of a prior possessory estate created in the same conveyance in which the remainder is created.
Remainderman
Remainderman is sociable. He never travels alone. “To A for 10 years, then to B.” B is the remainder.
He is polite and patient. He NEVER follows a fee simple determinable.
Jack Johnson is Remainderman. “Must I always be waiting on you?”
“To A for life, then to B’s first child,” creates what kind of remainder?
Contingent remainder, because A is alive, and B does not yet have any children.
What kind of remainder does, “To A for life, then to B’s heirs” create?
Contingent remainder. A is alive. B is alive, and therefore does not yet have heirs.
When is there a condition precedent?
When the precedent appears before the language creating the remainder or is woven in the grant to remainderman.
“To A for life, then, if B graduates from college, to B.”
What kind of remainder does, “To Laura, then, if Susan passes the bar, to Susan,” create?
Contingent remainder. There is a condition precedent to Susan being able to take.
What is the Rule of Destructibility on Contingent Remainders?
At common law, a contingent remainder was destroyed if it was still contingent at the time the preceding estate ended. (So if, “To A for life, and if B has reached 21, then to B,” A dies and B was just 19, then B’s contingent remainder was destroyed. O would take in fee simple absolute.
Now, the rule has been abolished. Same hpyo, if B is under 21, then O or O’s heirs hold the estate subject to B’s springing executory interest. Once he turns 21, he takes.
What is the Rule in Shelley’s case?
Rule applies in one setting only: “O conveys “To A for life, then, on A’s death, “to A’s heirs.” A is alive.
If this happens then the present and future interests would merge and A would take in fee simple absolute.
Now, basically abolished b/c it was a rule of law, not construction, and was applied no matter what. Grantor’s intent wasn’t considered.
What is the Doctrine of Worthier Title?
Applies when O, who is alive, tries to create a future interest in his heirs. O, who is alive, conveys “To A for life, then to O’s heirs.” If doctrine applies, then the contingent remainder in O’s heirs is void, leaving A a life estate and O a reversion.
A rule of construction, not of law, so grantor’s intent controls. If grantor clearly intends to create a contingent remainder in his heirs, then it is honored.
What is an indefeasibly vested remainder?
Holder in this remainder is certain to acquire the estate in the future with no strings attached.
“To A for life, remainder to B.”
What if B dies before A? Then B’s future interest passes by will or intestacy.
Think *NSync–No Strings Attached
What is a vested remainder subject to complete defeasance?
Remainderman’s taking is NOT subject to any condition precedent, but could be cut short because of a condition subsequent.
“To A for life, remainder to B, provided, however, that if B dies under age 25, to C.”
What is the Comma Rule?
When conditional language in a transfer follows language that, when taken alone and set off by commas, would create a vested remainder, the condition is a condition subsequent, and you have a vested remainder subject to complete defeasance.
What is a vested remainder subject to open?
A remainder is vested in a group of takers, at least one of whom is qualified to take.
Each class member’s share is subject to partial diminution because additional members can still join.
“To A for life, then to B’s children.”
What is the difference in open and closed classes?
A class is open if others can still join. A class is closed if no others can join.
When is a class closed?
Whenever any member can demand possession.
What is an executory interest?
A future interest created in a transferee (3rd party), which is not a remainder and which takes effect by either cutting short some interest in another person (shifting) or in the grantor or his heirs (springing)
What does, ““To A and her heirs, but if B returns from Canada sometime in the next year, to B and his heirs,” create for B? For A?
B has a shifting executory interest.
He will be cutting short the interest of A and her heirs if he comes back from Canada.
A has a fee simple subject to B’s shifting executory interest.
What does, “To A, if and when he marries,” create for A? For O?
A has a springing executory interest.
He will be cutting short O’s interest if he gets married.
O has a fee simple to A’s springing executory interest.
What is the Rule Against Perpetuities?
Certain kinds of future interests are void if there is any possibility, however remote, that the given interest may vest more than 21 years after the death of a measuring life.
What is the 4 step technique for assessing potential RAP problems?
Determine which future interests have been created.
Identify the conditions precedent to the vesting of the future interest.
Find a measuring life.
Ask if we will know for certain w/in 21 years of the death of our measuring life, if our future interest holders can or cannot take.
If yes, then it’s good. If not, the future interest is void.
What future interests does the RAP apply to?
Contingent remainders
Executory interests
Certain vested remainders subject to open.
If a gift is to an open class that is conditional on the members surviving to beyond age 21, is it good?
No. It violates the common law RAP.
Presumed that the measuring life can give birth up to the day of death, and that newborn will never have the chance to get past 21, so the entire gift is void.
Bad as to one, bad as to all.
Does an executory interest with no time limit on the time within it must vest violate the RAP?
Yes. Example: “To A and his heirs so long as the land is used for farm purposes, and if the land ceases to be used, to B and his heirs.”
There is no limit on how long before B’s interest will vest. So strike the offensive future interest. Left with “To A and his heirs so long as the land is used for farm purposes.” B gets nothing not, but O has the possibility of reverter.
What is the “wait and see” or “second look” doctrine concerning RAP?
Instead of not ever cutting off the class, take a look at the class when the measuring life dies. See if it can happen then, and go from there.
What is a joint tenancy?
Two or more owners w/ the right of survivorship.
What are the 3 kinds of concurrent estates?
Joint tenancy
Tenancy by the entirety
Tenancy in common
Is a joint tenant’s interest devisable, descendable, or alienable?
It is alienable only. It is not devisable or descendable because of the right of survivorship.