Also known as: estates of inheritance · heritable estate
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A freehold estate of potentially infinite duration that descends to the holder's heirs upon death. The estate passes by inheritance rather than terminating with the life of the holder.
Elliot Edmonds conveyed Blackacre to Ethan Evans for the term of his natural life. Upon Ethan's death the interest ended automatically. Ethan's daughter received nothing because the grant created no estate of inheritance capable of descending to heirs.
Edward Everett deeded land to his daughter while directing that the property return to his heirs after her death. The direction to the heirs was treated as reserving a reversion in Edward rather than creating an estate of inheritance in the daughter.
In January 1899, James J. Hanigan conveyed a house and lot in New York City to a trustee. The trust instrument directed the trustee to pay the grantor from the rents and profits the yearly sum of $1,500, with discretion to pay more, and to pay some debts and two existing mortgages on the property. The trustee received powers to mortgage the premises to satisfy liens or carry out the deed's provisions and to sell the property. Upon the grantor's death, the trustee was to convey the premises, if unsold, to the grantor's heirs at law or to pay them the unexpended balance of any sale proceeds. The trustee could also reconvey the premises to the grantor at any time to end the trust. At the time of trial in this action, the grantor remained alive, with two daughters as his sole descendants. In June 1902, one daughter, Mrs. Hughes, executed a deed conveying to her husband all her interest in the real estate. The plaintiffs, who are judgment creditors, later recovered a judgment for more than $4,000 against Mr. and Mrs. Hughes. They brought this action to subject what they alleged to be an interest in the real property to the lien of their judgment. The Special Term ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the existence of a reachable interest, but the Appellate Division reached a contrary conclusion, leading to this appeal.
View caseAn estate of inheritance passes to the holder's heirs at death. A life estate ends with the measuring life and cannot descend by inheritance.
Supporting sources
Yes. A fee simple defeasible remains an estate of inheritance because it is inheritable even though subject to possible termination by condition or limitation.
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The definition distinguishes estates measured by a human life from those that continue indefinitely and pass to heirs. This distinction determines whether a future interest arises by reversion or remainder.
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…to the acts of an ancestor as between him and his own heirs” (Hargrave, supra ). The other is confined to the limitation of an estate of inheritance to the heirs of a person who has taken under the same instrument a prior estate of freehold ( Campbell v. Rawdon , 18 N.Y. 412, 420; 29 L. R. A. N. S. 1016). At common law, therefore, and…