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| someone who receives real property from someone who died intestate (usually a spouse or child, maybe other relative if no spouse or children) |
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| leave real property to someone (the devisee) in a will; a will does not create any property interest in the devisee until the testator dies |
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| to pass personal property (the bequest) in a will |
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| a person's lineal descendants all the way down the line |
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| a person's blood relatives not directly in the line (siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc) |
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| if a decedent has no heirs or devisees, the interest in the property escheats to the state |
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| to transfer property (the conveyance) to another through sale or gift |
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| the owner of the right to possess the land now, in the present |
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| the owner of the right to possess the land in the future owns a future interest in the land |
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has no inherent ending; the owner of a fee simple can keep the land forever, can sell it or give it to someone else who can keep it forever, or can devise it to someone who can keep it forever
– O to A and his heirs
Words of limitation: "and the heirs of his/her body" |
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Definition
| tell you who is receiving the interest (who the grantee is) |
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tell you what kind of estate the grantee is receiving
– Do not convey any interest, just identify the type of estate
§ "and his heirs" doesn't give any interest to the heirs
If no words of limitation, the presumption is that the grantor meant to convey all that she could |
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if O conveys an estate to A, A possesses the land right now, but cannot sell or give or devise the right to possession after A's death
– After A dies, the land passes automatically to A's issue (not the same as inheritance because it can override a will)
– Fee tail ends when last lineal descendent dies (can't sell, give away or devise)
Words of limitation: "and the heirs of his/her body" |
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Term
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Definition
owner (life tenant) of a life estate only has the right to possess the property in his/her lifetime
– Can't sell, gift or devise; simply ends upon the death of the holder (or whoever's life it is measured by)
– Words of limitation: "for life" |
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a lease; not a freehold estate like the other three; occurs when the owner of a freehold estate promises to let someone else use the land for a set period of time
– Can't sell, gift or devise the right to use the land past the lease period
Words of limitation: "for X years/months/etc" |
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| the right to possession of land accompanied by particular responsibilities, such as the payment of taxes |
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for the life of another
– Example: O to A for life, then A to B, but only for A's life (B can still devise or his heirs can still inherit, but only for A's lifetime) |
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the estate has no limitations at all (only applies to fee simple because the other categories have inherent limitations)
No special term for a fee tail, life estate or term of years with no additional limitations |
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| a fee that is capable of being defeased (brought to an end) by the occurrence of a particular event (determinable/condition subsequent) |
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– Determinable estate: the estate will end automatically upon the happening of the limiting event
§ The limitation is placed within A's estate (uses words of temporal limitation, like until or so long as)/comes before the comma that marks the end of A's estate
§ Limited from the instant of the estate's creation |
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| subject to a condition subsequent |
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Definition
the estate won't end automatically, the grantor has to take some action to reclaim the property
§ The limitation is placed within O's estate/comes after the punctuation that ends A's estate
§ Gives that estate the right to interrupt A's estate if the designated event happens, but the estate doesn't automatically revert back to O
Uses terms of express condition, words like but if, however, on the condition that, etc |
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