Property estate question. Please help. Forum

[goansongo]

Label the interest each person has.

"to Doris and George until the both shall live, then to their survivors"

So the answer says:
Doris and George have life estates.
If Doris dies... then it says George has a fee simple.
I thought George had a life estate? since when does a life estate turn into fee simple?

Please explain to me...

[270910]

Unless it's a typo, then Doris and George get nothing until they become alive.

[Miniver]

...

[goansongo]

ok I think I got what's going on. Thanks!

[Miniver]

...

[grobbelski]

Label the interest each person has.

"to Doris and George until the both shall live, then to their survivors"

So the answer says:
Doris and George have life estates.
If Doris dies... then it says George has a fee simple.
I thought George had a life estate? since when does a life estate turn into fee simple?

Please explain to me...

The bolded is ambiguous, and you are going to have to figure out what your professor's definition of that is. Given the answer they probably define it as until the first one dies. Since when Doris dies George has a fee simple, as you have said is the answer, each has a life in joint tenancy. Because joint tenancy by definition include a right of survivorship, one Doris dies George has an outright fee simple absolute, which will pass to his survivors in fee simple unless otherwise devised.

The other way I'm thinking about it is that it wouldn't pass until the last one dies, which, unless I am forgetting something is extremely complicated because they would each have to have an estate that passes to their heirs, but not until the last one died, and that sounds a lot more like trust law.

hth