Also known as: estates in tail · estate tail · tail estate · fee tail · entailed estate · entail
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An estate in land limited to a grantee and the heirs of the grantee's body. The limitation restricts succession to lineal descendants of the grantee and prevents the grantee from devising the land by will.
Edgar Evers conveys Blackacre to Emma Erickson and Eugene Ellsworth and the heirs of their bodies as tenants in common. The deed creates separate estates in tail for each grantee. Each may convey or encumber only an undivided interest subject to the tail limitation.
Eric Espinoza deeds Greenacre to Eileen Epstein for life then to the heirs of her body. The conveyance merges the life estate and the limitation into a single estate in tail in Eileen. Her bodily heirs take by descent rather than as remaindermen.
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Emily Ellis and her husband convey Whiteacre to themselves and the heirs of their bodies as tenants by the entirety. The deed satisfies the statutory conditions for creating an estate in tail held by the entirety. The surviving spouse holds the entire tail estate subject to the original limitation.
Emma Erickson receives Brownacre under a deed using classic fee tail language in a jurisdiction retaining the Statute De Donis unmodified. The conveyance creates an estate in tail rather than a fee simple. Emma may alienate only by a disentailing conveyance recognized in that state.
Eugene Ellsworth holds an estate in tail in Redacre and executes a deed meeting the state's formal requirements for disentailing. The conveyance transfers a fee simple absolute to the purchaser. The tail limitation is thereby barred as to that grantee.
Eileen Epstein holds an estate in tail in Blueacre and conveys a life estate to a purchaser without using the state's required disentailing formalities. The purchaser receives a life estate that ends at Eileen Epstein's death. The tail limitation then continues in the persons entitled under the original grant.
An estate in tail restricts succession to lineal descendants of the grantee and prevents devise by will, whereas a fee simple absolute allows free alienation and inheritance by any heirs. The tail limitation merges a life estate and remainder into one inheritable estate when the conveyance uses words such as to A and the heirs of A's body.
Supporting sources
A holder may convey a fee simple absolute only by an inter vivos deed that satisfies the special formalities prescribed for a disentailing conveyance in the state where the land is located. Without those formalities the grantee receives at most a life estate that ends at the conveyor’s death.
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Yes. In jurisdictions retaining the traditional rules an estate in tail may be created to be held by two or more persons as tenants in common or, when the grantees are or may become husband and wife, as tenants by the entirety.
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The surviving spouse receives the same dower or curtesy interest that would attach to a fee simple absolute, but that interest remains subordinate to any remainder, executory interest, possibility of reverter, or power of termination that restricted the deceased spouse’s estate.
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