Also known as: presently-existing property interests · present existing property interest · present interest · presently existing interest
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A property interest that confers on the holder the right to immediate possession or beneficial enjoyment of the subject matter.
Portia Price conveys her farm to her son for life with the remainder to her granddaughter. The son receives a presently existing property interest that entitles him to occupy and use the farm at once. The granddaughter receives only a future interest that cannot become possessory until the life estate ends.
Prime Logistics agrees to sell next season's wheat from a designated field to Pulse Media before any seed is sown. Pulse Media acquires no presently existing property interest because the wheat does not yet exist and has not been identified. The transaction creates only a contract to sell once the crop comes into being.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Philip Powell creates a revocable trust naming his children as beneficiaries of life-insurance proceeds. The children hold no presently existing property interest while Powell retains the power to change beneficiaries and surrender the policies. Only upon Powell's death and the fixing of the beneficiaries do the children acquire present rights to the proceeds.
Paul Peterson forms a trust to conduct securities trading and allocates a share of the profits to his minor children. The children receive no presently existing property interest in the trading profits because Peterson retains full control over the operations and the allocation. The profits remain Peterson's income until actually distributed.
A presently existing property interest gives the holder immediate rights to possession or enjoyment. A future interest is one that is not yet possessory but may become so upon the expiration of prior interests.
Supporting sources
A contract creates a presently existing property interest only when the goods are both existing and identified to the contract. An agreement to sell future goods such as an unplanted crop operates merely as a contract to sell.
Supporting sources
A life tenant holds a presently existing property interest because the life estate confers immediate rights to possession and use of the property during the measuring life.
Supporting sources
A court dividing marital assets under statutes such as § 46b-81 may divide only the presently existing property interests of the spouses at the time of dissolution. Future support obligations are addressed separately through alimony.
Supporting sources
…a life insurance policy is property which may constitute the corpus of an existing trust, and that the trust therein passed a present interest to the beneficiary, subject to being defeated by the settlor’s power of termination or power to alter and amend the trust. The foregoing Illinois cases, while distinguishable from the…