Legal Property Law & Real Estate 2

Question 1

O conveys Blackacre "to A for life, then to B if B survives A." What interest does B hold?

Accepted Answer

Contingent remainder

Answer

B's remainder depends on a condition precedent (surviving A), so it is contingent.

Question 2

O conveys land "to the City so long as it is used as a public park." What interest does O keep?

Accepted Answer

Possibility of reverter

Answer

Durational words like "so long as" create a fee simple determinable, and the grantor keeps a possibility of reverter.

Question 3

O conveys "to A, but if alcohol is ever sold on the premises, O may reenter and retake." A holds a:

Accepted Answer

Fee simple subject to condition subsequent

Answer

Conditional language plus a grantor's power to reenter creates a fee simple subject to condition subsequent.

Question 4

O devises "to A for life, then to A's first child to reach age 25." At O's death, A is alive and has no children. Under the common-law Rule Against Perpetuities, the remainder is:

Accepted Answer

Void, because it might vest more than 21 years after all lives in being

Answer

A child could be born and reach 25 more than 21 years after A and everyone else alive at O's death have died, so the gift fails.

Question 5

A life tenant opens a new coal mine on land where no mining had ever taken place. The remainderman sues. The likely result is:

Accepted Answer

The remainderman can get damages or an injunction for voluntary waste

Answer

Under the open-mines doctrine, a life tenant may work only mines already open, so a new mine is voluntary waste.

Legal - Attorneys Practice Test

Legal - Attorneys Practice Test

Legal Property Law & Real Estate 2