Also known as: defeasible fee simple · defeasible fee simples · fee simple defeasible · defeasible fee
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A fee simple estate subject to termination upon the occurrence of a specified event or condition through a special limitation, condition subsequent, or executory limitation.
Dolores Diaz conveyed a decommissioned warehouse to Denise Donovan so long as the building served as a public emergency shelter, with title to pass automatically to a regional authority if that use ended. Donovan operated the shelter for years but later converted the space to commercial storage. The estate terminated automatically upon the change in use, and title vested in the authority without any need for reentry or court action.
The United States granted a strip of land to a railroad company for track purposes, with an implied condition that the land would revert if rail use ceased. Decades later the tracks were abandoned and the Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust claimed ownership of the underlying fee. The estate held by the railroad ended upon abandonment, confirming that the original grant created a defeasible interest rather than an absolute fee.
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A defeasible fee simple is an estate in fee simple subject to a special limitation, condition subsequent, or executory limitation that can cause the estate to end automatically or upon election. A fee simple absolute lacks any such restriction and continues indefinitely without possibility of termination by those means.
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Words such as so long as, until, on condition that, or if the use changes followed by a shift of title to another party create a defeasible fee simple. A simple grant to a named grantee and heirs with no limiting language creates a fee simple absolute.
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Yes. On the intestate death of the owner the estate passes under the same rules of intestate succession that apply to a fee simple absolute, except that all interests remain subject to the original defeasibility.
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The estate immediately ceases without any action by the holder of the succeeding interest. Title shifts automatically to the person or entity designated in the limitation.
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…for which it was granted." Ibid. In essence, the Court held, "the grant was of a limited fee," ibid. —commonly known as a defeasible fee, see Restatement (First) of Property § 16 (1936)—rather than fee simple. Thus, if the railroad were to abandon its use of the right of way, the property would revert to the United…