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31. Who now owns what interest in the land?
A landowner died, validly devising his land to his wife «for life or until remarriage, then to» their daughter. Shortly after the landowner's death, his daughter executed an instrument in the proper form of a deed, purporting to convey the land to her friend. A year later, the daughter died intestate, with her mother, the original landowner's wife, as her sole heir. The following month, the wife remarried. The wife then executed an instrument in the proper form of a deed, purporting to convey the land to her new husband as a wedding gift.
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To create a determinable estate, the grantor will need to use words with a «durational aspect» to signal his intentions. Words used to create determinable estates are generally ones that make it clear the estate is to have a particular duration and is then to end automatically upon the occurrence of the stated event,
Just as a fee simple may be defeasible rather than absolute, a life estate can also be constructed as defeasible. As with the defeasible fees, a life estate can be sold or transferred to a third party. However, since a holder cannot transfer more than he or she owns, the buyer or recipient will have to surrender the land upon the death of the person who was the measuring life for the original life estate.
A is correct. The first step to analyzing this question is to figure out the interests of all parties involved. The landowner's wife had a determinable life estate, evidenced by the words «for life» and «until remarriage» in the landowner's will. As explained above, a determinable estate is created when words of a durational aspect are used in the grant. Here, the grant used «until remarriage» to signal that the life estate would be cut short both naturally AND if the wife ever remarried. The daughter had a vested remainder and an executory interest. Both of the daughter's interests could be assigned to the friend. On the remarriage of the landowner's wife, the wife's determinable life estate ended and the land automatically went to the holder of the future interest, the daughter's friend.
B is incorrect. The landowner's wife had a determinable life estate, evidenced by the words «for life» and «until remarriage.» A fee simple estate has no such words of special limitation. On the remarriage of the landowner's wife, the wife's determinable life estate ended, and the land automatically went to the holder of the future interest, the daughter's friend.
C is incorrect. As explained above, the wife's determinable life estate was established by the words «for life» and «until remarriage.» Had she not remarried, the wife's life estate would have been transferable to someone else; however, the words of limitation regarding remarriage terminated the wife's determinable life estate immediately upon her remarriage, and the land automatically went to the friend.
D is incorrect. A life tenant cannot convey a fee simple or any other estate greater than the life estate she holds. If she does purport to convey a greater interest, that conveyance will be effective but only to convey the entirety of the grantor's life estate. When she remarried, the wife's life estate ended and it automatically went to the daughter's friend as the holder of the future interest. The landowner's wife had no interest in the land to give to her new husband at the time she executed the deed.