Also known as: estates in fee · fee estate · fee estates · fee simple
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An estate of inheritance that may endure indefinitely. It encompasses both the fee simple absolute, which continues without termination, and the fee simple defeasible, which ends upon a stated event under a special limitation, condition subsequent, or executory limitation.
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Ezra Eastman conveyed waterfront land to Elena Estrada and her heirs so long as the parcel remained used solely for residential purposes, with automatic reversion to Ezra if commercial development occurred. Elena later built a retail store on the site. The estate conveyed to Elena terminated automatically upon the prohibited use, transferring title back to Ezra under the special limitation in the deed.
Edith Eberhardt devised her ranch to her son Ewan Eckhart and his heirs without any limiting language. After Ewan took possession he mortgaged the property to finance improvements. The devise passed full ownership to Ewan that could be freely encumbered and transferred without risk of automatic termination.
Emily Ellis sold a tract to Enzo Eastwood using a deed that granted the land in perpetuity with no conditions attached. Enzo later subdivided the tract and sold parcels to third parties. The original conveyance transferred an estate that Enzo could freely alienate because no limitation restricted its duration or use.
Everlasting Insurance acquired a corridor from the federal government under a statute that granted land for railroad purposes. When the railroad ceased operations the corridor reverted. The original grant created an estate in fee that terminated upon abandonment of the specified use.
Elena Estrada held a life estate in family farmland under her grandfather's will while her niece claimed a remainder in fee. The niece petitioned to sell the land for development. The court examined whether the remainder interest qualified as a fee estate of potentially infinite duration that could support the sale.
Eastern Electric received a municipal grant of land for public recreation with a clause attempting to bar future sale. The company later sought to convey the parcel. The restriction proved ineffective against the fee estate because the grant conveyed an inheritable interest that could not be permanently restrained from alienation.
A fee simple absolute continues indefinitely without any terminating event. A fee simple defeasible ends automatically or upon exercise of a power when a stated condition occurs.
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Modern statutes presume a fee simple absolute from a grant of land without words of inheritance unless the instrument shows contrary intent.
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Yes. A corporation may hold a fee simple absolute even though it cannot have bodily heirs, because the estate is of potentially infinite duration and freely alienable.
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…of) value. In any event, we avoid this difficulty in the present case, since the "interest in land" that Lucas has pleaded (a fee simple interest) is an estate with a rich tradition of protection at common law, and since the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas found that the Beachfront Management Act left each of Lucas's…