Defeasible Estate - Fee Simple Subject To An Executory Limitation

Fee Simple Subject To An Executory Limitation

A fee simple subject to an executory limitation is an estate that ends when a specific condition is met and then transfers to a third party. The interest will not revert to the grantor. If the condition is met, the grantee loses the interest and the third party gains it automatically.

Example:

O grants Blackacre to A and A's heir; but if A ever accepts a candy bar from C, then to B and B's heirs.

Here, O is the original owner. She grants A a fee simple subject to the subsequent condition that he doesn't accept a candy bar from C. But unlike a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, Blackacre goes to a third party (B) instead of the grantor (O) if the condition is met. Also unlike a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, B then automatically gains the interest in Blackacre and does not only have a mere right to sue for re-entry.

What would happen if the property were conveyed? Let's say A sold Blackacre to D. If A afterwards accepted an offer for a candy bar from C, Blackacre automatically goes to B. But if A died without ever accepting a candy bar from C, the condition could not possibly be met. D would then have a fee simple absolute.

Read more about this topic:  Defeasible Estate

Famous quotes containing the words fee, simple, subject and/or limitation:

    As a general rule never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

    School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.
    Ivan Illich (b. 1926)

    Great Negative, how vainly would the Wise
    Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
    Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies?
    Is, or is not, the two great Ends of Fate,
    And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
    That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate,
    John Wilmot, 2d Earl Of Rochester (1909–1969)

    When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.
    George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)