Freehold estates
An estate is the size and length of someone's ownership interest in real property. Estates fall into two families. Freehold estates last for an uncertain length of time, such as forever or for someone's life. Leasehold estates (the next lesson) are the interests tenants hold.
Fee simple absolute
The fee simple absolute is the largest estate the law recognizes. The owner holds title and possession with no conditions attached, can use the property in any lawful way, and can sell it, give it away, or leave it by will. When the owner dies without a will, it passes to the owner's heirs. It lasts indefinitely.
Most homes in Florida are owned in fee simple. Modern law presumes a deed transfers a fee simple unless it clearly says the grantor is giving something less.
Defeasible fees
A fee simple defeasible looks like a fee simple but can be lost if a stated condition happens or stops being met. The two versions the exam focuses on are:
| Estate | Typical wording | What happens if the condition is broken |
|---|---|---|
| Fee simple determinable | "so long as," "while," "until" | Title ends automatically and goes back to the grantor (the grantor's interest is a possibility of reverter) |
| Fee simple subject to a condition subsequent | "but if," "provided that," "on condition that" | The grantor gains the right to take the property back but must act on it (the grantor's interest is a right of re-entry) |
Example: "To the town so long as the land is used as a park" is determinable. If the town builds offices there, title reverts on its own. "To the town, but if the land is not used as a park, the grantor may re-enter" is subject to a condition subsequent. The grantor must step in to end the town's estate.
Life estates
A life estate lasts only for the life of a named person. The holder is the life tenant. The life tenant may live in the property, rent it out, and keep the income, and can sell or mortgage the life estate itself. A buyer gets only what the life tenant had, though: the interest still ends when the measuring life ends. A life tenant cannot leave the property by will, because the estate ends at death.
The life tenant should not damage or neglect the property in a way that hurts the value of the future interest. Damage of that kind is called waste.
Pur autre vie
Usually the measuring life is the life tenant's own. When it is someone else's, the estate is a life estate pur autre vie ("for the life of another"). If Ana receives a home "for the life of her father," Ana's estate ends when her father dies, not when she does. If Ana dies first, the estate continues until her father dies, and it can pass to Ana's heirs or devisees for that remaining time.
Remainder or reversion
Someone always holds the right to the property after a life estate ends. That right is a future interest:
- Remainder: the property goes to a third party named in the same deed or will. That person is the remainderman. "To Ben for life, then to Carla" gives Carla a remainder.
- Reversion: the property goes back to the original grantor or the grantor's heirs. "To Ben for life" with nothing more means the grantor kept a reversion.
The test is simple: if the property comes back to the person who created the life estate, it is a reversion. If it goes to anyone else, it is a remainder.