Future Interests
What are the three types of fee simple estates and what future interest does a grantor have in them?
Fee simple absolute (none)
Fee simple determinable (possibility of reverter)
Fee simple subject to condition subsequent (right of entry)
What are the requirements of a valid deed?
1. Grantor's name
2. Grantee's name
3.Words of conveyance
4. Legal description of property
5. Grantor's signature
6. In some states, notary/witness
How to equitable servitudes differ from real covenants?
A real covenant is enforceable by law and runs with the land - breach can award monetary damages.
An equitable servitude is enforceable in equity - breach can award specific performance.
What are the differences between claim of right and color of title?
Claim of right: Adverse possessor gets to keep what they were in possession of. Based on conduct and belief of ownership. In FL, must have also paid outstanding taxes within a year.
Color of title: Cases where a defective written document exists (ex. a deed). Based on a written promise. The adverse possessory gets to keep what was promised in the deed.
What is the test for determining a validating life in the Rule Against Perpetuities?
RAP is not violated if a condition cannot be met or no one can join a class beyond the perpetuities period.
Is it impossible for condition that should occur more than 21 years after validating life's death?
If yes, RAP is not violated. If no, RAP is validated.
A vested remainder can never be subject to a condition precedent, true or false?
True
To qualify for protection under a notice and race-notice jurisdiction, what must a subsequent purchaser not have?
Actual, constructive or inquiry notice of the prior conveyance.
Vertical privity is relevant in determining whether:
a. An easement can be implied.
b. A covenant runs with the land.
c. An easement runs with the land.
d. A covenant can be implied
b. A covenant runs with the land
Wanting to hurt his neighbor’s financial interests, a homeowner constructed an unsightly ten-foot-tall fence that was six inches over the border between the two properties. The fence was not visible from the street but was visible by anyone on either the homeowner’s or neighbor’s property.
In a jurisdiction applying an objective test, if the fence remains in place for the statutory period, will the homeowner obtain title by adverse possession of the six-inch strip of land that he improperly included on his side of the fence?
Yes, because by installing the fence, the homeowner reasonably appeared to be treating the six inches of property as his own.
What are all of the common law rules?
1. Rule in Shelley's Case
2. Merger Doctrine
3. Doctrine of Worthier Title
4. Destructibility of Contingent Remainders
5. Rule Against Perpetuities
Julie sells her property through the following grant: “I, Julie, hereby convey to Benny for life, then to Curtis for life, then to Daniel and his heirs.” Who owns what at the time of the conveyance?
Benny has a life estate
Curtis has a vested remainder subject to complete divestment in a life estate
Daniel has an indefeasibly vested remainder in fee simple absolute
Julie retains nothing
Name the types of recording statutes and what they mean.
A race statute awards superior rights to the grantee who first records the written deed or other instrument of conveyance from the grantor.
A notice statute awards superior title to a subsequent grantee who lacked notice of the grantor’s prior transfer of another interest in the property.
A race-notice statute requires the subsequent grantee to lack notice of the grantor’s prior transfer of an interest in the property, and the subsequent grantee must record the written deed or other instrument of conveyance from the grantor before the prior grantee records.
How are easements created?
An easement can be
1) Expressly created in a document by grant or by reservation
2) Implied through strict necessity, quasi-easement or estoppel
3) Prescribed through lost grant or adverse use
A neighbor fished in a homeowner’s pond daily for nine years. When the homeowner noticed the neighbor fishing without permission at the beginning of the ninth year, he told the neighbor to leave immediately and escorted the neighbor from the property. The homeowner repaired a broken fence that the neighbor had been using to enter the property. Three months later, the neighbor found a new gap in the fence and began fishing again.
If the statutory period for adverse possession is ten years, how much longer, if at all, does the neighbor need to continue fishing to obtain title?
Ten years
What interests are vulnerable to the Rule Against Perpetuities?
Executory interests, contingent remainders, any future interests in a class
A grantor who owned property in fee simple absolute conveyed the property “to my brother for life, then to my nephew, but if my nephew should purchase a house before my brother’s death, then to my daughter.” At the time of the conveyance, the grantor had one brother, one nephew, and one daughter. The nephew did not own a house at the time of the conveyance.
What is the nephew’s interest?
A vested remainder subject to complete divestment
What are the types of deeds and what warranties do they include?
1. General warranty deed - contains all 6 covenants of title
2. Special warranty deed - contains all 6 or fewer
3. Quitclaim deed - contains none
The Sluyters and the Hales own adjoining tracts of land. In 2001, they exchanged reciprocal easements “to provide for the common use of the driveways on the two tracts of land.” In 2015, the state highway department used its eminent domain power to obtain part of the Hales' property, which made it impossible for the Hales to continue using the driveway. Instead, the Hales began to build a fence along the property line in order to better preserve their privacy. The fence is:
Not permitted, because it violates the easement.
What are the elements of adverse possession?
1. Possession
2. Claim of right/color of title
3. Open and notorious
4. Continuous
5. Required time
6. Adverse/hostile
7. Exclusive
Does the following violate the Rule Against Perpetuities:
O devises Blackacre to A and his heirs provided that Blackacre is used as a farm, then to B.
B's interest violates RAP and is therefore striked; O has right of re-entry and A has a fee simple absolute.
A farmer owned his land in fee-simple absolute. The farmer conveyed the land in a deed that stated that he was conveying the land "to myself for life, then to [my niece], but if she does not graduate from college by the age of 25, to [my nephew], and if he is dishonorably discharged from the army, then back to [the farmer and his heirs]."
Immediately after this conveyance, who possesses an executory interest in the land?
Only the nephew
What are all six warranties/covenants of title?
1. Covenant of seisin
2. Covenant of right to convey
3. Covenant against encumbrances
4. Covenant of quiet enjoyment
5. Covenant of warranty
6. Covenant of further assurances
The Cosina del Lago Restaurant overlooks a lake that diners can view from the second-floor dining room. Jack Johnson owned the land between the restaurant and the lake, and he wanted to build four large residential homes there. Johnson needed to build a road across the restaurant's property in order to provide access to his four planned homes, so he entered into an agreement in which the restaurant gave him an easement “across the restaurant's land” in exchange for a covenant that “none of the houses on Johnson's land would interfere with the restaurant's view of the lake.” David then bought one of the lots from Johnson and built a three-story house that blocked the restaurant's view of the lake. The restaurant's lawsuit against David to obtain equitable relief for violating the covenant will most likely:
Succeed, because the covenant runs with the land
The Blacks and the Greens own lots with homes adjacent to each other in Iowa. South Street runs between the Blacks and Greens' lots. In December 2020, the state of Iowa vacated South Street.
In June 2021, the Blacks moved a shed onto the vacated street and also erected a fence on the vacated street. The Greens believed that the shed encroached upon the portion of South Street that became their property when the state vacated the road.
Therefore, in May 2022, the Greens sued the Blacks, alleging that the Greens “have treated the entire vacated 25 feet of the vacated strip of South Street as their own, have exercised exclusive control over the vacated street and have denied the Blacks the right to enjoy the use of any portion of the vacated street.” Assuming that the facts alleged by the Greens, will their claim succeed or fail, and why?
While the amount of time necessary to establish adverse possession varies from state-to-state, most states require about 10 years. No state requires as few as a year or two. Therefore, the Greens have not used the property for the necessary duration to establish the required continuity.
O conveys to A for life, then to O’s heirs.
Apply all common law rules.
O's heirs have a contingent remainder.
1. Rule in Shelley's Case - does not apply because the remainder is in O's heirs, not A's heirs.
2. Merger Doctrine - no one in this scenario has multiple interests in properties, so merger does not apply
3. Doctrine of Worthier Title - applies here and O's heirs no longer have a remainder. Instead, O has a reversion.
4. Destructibility of Contingent Remainders - Applies if A dies and O has no heirs. O would have a reversion.
5. Rule Against Perpetuities - is violated because O’s heirs won’t be known until O dies, and that could be 100+ years in the future. We cannot guarantee that the interest in O’s heirs will vest (if at all) within the perpetuities period.
Therefore, RAP and Doctrine of Worthier Title apply to this conveyance and both would give O a reversion.