Also known as:disentail · disentails · disentailed · disentailing · disentailments
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A special inter vivos conveyance by which the holder of an estate in fee tail bars the entail. The conveyance must conform to the formalities prescribed by the law of the state where the land is located. Once executed, the tenant gains the power to create any interest in the land that a fee simple owner could create.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
2
Fee Tail Holder Grants Defeasible Fee
Dwight Dorsey holds a rural parcel under a deed to Dwight and the heirs of his body. He executes and delivers a notarized instrument that expressly terminates the entail and conveys the parcel to Dixon Foods in fee simple subject to a condition subsequent. The instrument complies with the state's prescribed disentailing formalities. Dixon Foods receives a defeasible fee simple and Dwight's lineal descendants lose their expectant interests under the former entail.
Disentailing Deed Cuts Off Heir Claims
Denise Donovan holds an office building in fee tail. She signs and records a deed that terminates the entail and grants a perpetual easement to Dover Bank for utility lines. The deed satisfies the state's special formalities for disentailing conveyances. Denise's next heir in tail later sues to invalidate the easement. The court holds the easement valid because the disentailing conveyance converted Denise's estate into one equivalent to fee simple absolute.
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Restatements
Dictionaries
Ryan v. Ward192 Md. 342, 64 A.2d 258, 7 A.L.R.2d 1078
Common questions
Frequently Asked
4
What formalities must a disentailing conveyance satisfy?+
The conveyance must be an otherwise effective inter vivos instrument that complies with the special procedures prescribed by the law of the state where the land lies. Ordinary deed formalities are often insufficient. Compliance with the prescribed form is a condition precedent to barring the entail.
Supporting sources
What interests can a tenant in tail create after a valid disentailing conveyance?+
The tenant may create any present or future interest that a fee simple owner could create. This includes fee simple absolute, defeasible fees, easements, and possibilities of reverter retained in the grantor or the grantor's estate.
Supporting sources
Does failure to follow disentailing formalities leave the fee tail intact?+
Yes. If the conveyance does not conform to the required formalities, the tenant cannot enlarge the estate or cut off expectant interests of lineal heirs. The fee tail continues and passes to the next heir in tail upon the tenant's death.
Supporting sources
Can a judgment creditor reach interests created by a disentailing conveyance?+
A creditor may reach any interest the tenant has the power to transfer at the time the lien attaches or acquires the power to transfer while the lien remains in force. This includes present alienable interests such as leases and any fee simple interest the tenant later creates by exercising the power to disentail.
…after an estate tail, where the period of perpetuities is computed from the date of expiration of the estate tail; the power to disentail makes the tenant in tail the substantial owner and causes interests after the estate tail to be in substance gifts by the last tenant in tail at the time of expiration of his estate. The…
Real PropertyOwnership of real property · Special problemsUBEFoundational