Property Multiple Choice Question Forum

[howardsbest]

This is from a final exam for my property instructor...
"James conveys Blackacre 'to Burt and such of his children who survive him.' The quoted words are best described as:
(a) Words of limitation
(b) Words of purchase
(c) Words creating a life estate and a vested remainder
(d) Words creating a fee simple in Burt followed by a contingent remainder."

I've asked several people, and we can't come up with a consensus.
I'm pretty sure it's (b), but a solid answer would be great.

The correct answer is D. Burt has a fee simple- notice it is simply conveyed to Burt with no restrictions.

Burt's children have a contingent remainder- them receiving the property is conditioned on them surviving Burt.

Why would you think it is B there are no purchasing powers on it?

[Borhas]

to have a remainder you need a life estate, otherwise they are executory interests

Notwithstanding things like term of years, yeah, you're right. I just have a strong gut reaction to any exam question that would make you assume any imperative fact. I was much more in favor of assuming nonexistence of children than to write in their existence, but it doesn't look like it's possible to solve the question this way.

You two are doing a good job of showing why C and D are wrong.

The answer is B. Words of Purchase are words that express who the grantees of a will or deed will be. In this case, all of the explicit words are words of purchase; there are implicit words of limitation that the estate will go to Burt "in life estate," then to his children who survive him "in fee simple." (The quoted words are words of limitation.) The class of children may make up a contingent or vested remainder subject to open given the state of knowledge in the question, meaning that C can't be correct. Furthermore, a plain fee simple can never be followed by any other interest, so D is wrong.

Thanks for all the responses. Someone asked the professor about this question, and he said almost the exact same thing, and that it was important that the words used in the question were "and such children," meaning there can't be a remainder.

tell yer professor he's dum and the internet doesn't like him

[Kilpatrick]

This is from a final exam for my property instructor...
"James conveys Blackacre 'to Burt and such of his children who survive him.' The quoted words are best described as:
(a) Words of limitation
(b) Words of purchase
(c) Words creating a life estate and a vested remainder
(d) Words creating a fee simple in Burt followed by a contingent remainder."

I've asked several people, and we can't come up with a consensus.
I'm pretty sure it's (b), but a solid answer would be great.

The correct answer is D. Burt has a fee simple- notice it is simply conveyed to Burt with no restrictions.

Burt's children have a contingent remainder- them receiving the property is conditioned on them surviving Burt.

Why would you think it is B there are no purchasing powers on it?

He's already said what the professor told him the right answer was. Also there are no remainders with a conveyance of a fee simple. If there were it wouldn't be a fee simple.

[GeePee]

This is from a final exam for my property instructor...
"James conveys Blackacre 'to Burt and such of his children who survive him.' The quoted words are best described as:
(a) Words of limitation
(b) Words of purchase
(c) Words creating a life estate and a vested remainder
(d) Words creating a fee simple in Burt followed by a contingent remainder."

I've asked several people, and we can't come up with a consensus.
I'm pretty sure it's (b), but a solid answer would be great.

The correct answer is D. Burt has a fee simple- notice it is simply conveyed to Burt with no restrictions.

Burt's children have a contingent remainder- them receiving the property is conditioned on them surviving Burt.

Why would you think it is B there are no purchasing powers on it?

Someone has some studying to do...