Estates and Future Interests
FEE SIMPLE ABSOLUTE
History
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Rise of the fee simple absolute estate
Livery of seisin
Idea of multiple owners of land
System of estates
Freehold estates
 Estate: classified by its length (duration)
 Corresponding future interest in grantor or grantee
 Fee simple absolute
Fee simple determinable
 Fee simple subject to condition subsequent
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Fee tail
Life estate
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O’s deed “to my daughter Mary for life” creates either reversion in
O or remainder in someone else.
 Nonfreehold: leasehold interest
Terminology
 Conveyance: transfer of real property by deed –
could be either a sale or gift. Grantor conveys to
grantee.
 Testate: person (testator) dies with a will.
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Personal property: legacy
Real property: devise
 Intestate: person dies without a will, property is
then distributed by intestate succession statute of
the state to heirs.
Terminology
 Heirs: those who inherit according to intestate
succession law of state
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If you acquire property under will, you are a devisee or legatee, not
“heir”
 Issue: lineal descendants (children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren, etc.)
 Ancestor: lineal ascendants (parents, grandparents),
but NOT aunts, uncles
 Collaterals: related by blood, but not issue or ancestors
(siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles)
 Escheat: property goes to the state if no living relatives
Fee simple absolute
 Traditionally, created by conveyance “to A and her
heirs.”
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Why add “and her heirs”?
Illustrates that the estate is inheritable and that more than life
estate was intended.
 Use of these words did NOT give “heirs” any interest: words of
limitation, not words of purchase.
 What are the words of limitation in this gift?
“to A for the duration of her natural life”
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 Cole v. Steinlauf: illustrates how strict this rule could
be
Iowa Code
557.2. Estate in fee simple
The term “heirs” or other technical words of
inheritance are not necessary to create and convey
an estate in fee simple.
Iowa Code
557.3. Conveyance passes grantor's interest
Every conveyance of real estate passes all the interest
of the grantor therein, unless a contrary intent can
be reasonably inferred from the terms used.
Fee simple problems
 O conveys Blackacre “to Joan and her heirs.” Joan
wants to sell Blackacre, but her son Ronald objects.
Can Ronald stop the sale?
 If Joan decides to will Blackacre to the Alien Space
Society, can Ronald challenge the will?
Life estate
 Created by language “to A for life” or similar words.
 Transferable: pur autre vie
 O conveys Blackacre “to A for life”. O retains reversion. A sells
her interest to B. B then dies, leaving no will and an only son,
X. What happens to Blackacre?
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What if B dies, leaving no will and no heirs?
What happens to Blackacre when A dies?
What happens if O dies before A?
What if O conveys