Also known as: defeasible fee simple · defeasible fee
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
An estate in land of potentially infinite duration that is subject to termination upon the occurrence of a stated event. The estate ends automatically or upon exercise of a power when the limiting event occurs, and the interest passes according to the terms of the limitation or executory interest.
Francois Fortier conveyed a warehouse to Fisher Foods by deed stating the property was to be held so long as it remained a food processing facility and that upon any other use title would pass automatically to Felipe Figueroa. Fisher Foods later converted the building into office space for a technology firm. The change in use caused Fisher Foods estate to end and title to vest immediately in Figueroa under the executory limitation.
The United States granted a strip of land to a railroad company for use as a right of way. The Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust later acquired the surrounding parcel. When the railroad abandoned the line the trust claimed full ownership, but the original grant created only a defeasible fee that terminated upon cessation of railroad use and left a reversion in the United States.
In 1908 the Laramie, Hahn's Peak and Pacific Railroad obtained a 200-foot-wide right of way across public lands in Wyoming under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875. The railroad completed construction of its line in 1911. The line later passed through several owners and was used primarily to transport timber and cattle. In 1976 the United States issued a land patent conveying an 83-acre parcel in Fox Park, Wyoming, to Melvin and Lulu Brandt. The patent conveyed to the Brandts fee simple title to the land "with all the rights, privileges, immunities, and appurtenances, of whatsoever nature, thereunto belonging, unto said claimants, their successors and assigns, forever." The patent stated that the land was granted "subject to those rights for railroad purposes as have been granted to the Laramie[,] Hahn's Peak & Pacific Railway Company, its successors or assigns." The right of way crossed approximately ten acres of the patented parcel. In 1996 the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad notified the Surface Transportation Board of its intent to abandon the right of way. After removing the tracks and ties and obtaining Board approval, the railroad completed abandonment in 2004. In 2006 the United States filed suit seeking a judicial declaration of abandonment and an order quieting title to the right of way in the Government. The complaint named the owners of 31 parcels crossed by the abandoned right of way, including Marvin Brandt who held the Fox Park parcel through a family trust. Brandt contested the claim and filed a counterclaim asserting that the right of way was a mere easement extinguished by abandonment. The district court granted summary judgment to the United States. The Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.
View caseWords such as so long as, during, while, until, or upon condition that followed by a stated event indicate that the estate is subject to a special limitation, condition subsequent, or executory limitation. The presence of any such restriction prevents the grant from creating an absolute fee simple.
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Yes. The estate passes under the rules of intestate succession or by will exactly as a fee simple absolute would, except that the interest remains subject to the same defeasibility that applied to the deceased owner.
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A fee simple defeasible may continue indefinitely so long as the limiting event does not occur and is fully inheritable. A life estate ends automatically at the death of the measuring life regardless of any use condition.
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The estate terminates immediately under the terms of the special limitation or executory limitation. No affirmative action by the holder of the next interest is required to end the prior estate.
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…for which it was granted." Ibid. In essence, the Court held, "the grant was of a limited fee," ibid. —commonly known as a defeasible fee, see Restatement (First) of Property § 16 (1936)—rather than fee simple. Thus, if the railroad were to abandon its use of the right of way, the property would revert to the United…