Also known as: estates of inheritance · heritable estate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A freehold estate of potentially infinite duration that descends to the holder's heirs upon death. The estate passes by inheritance rather than terminating with the life of the holder.
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Elliot Edmonds conveyed Blackacre to Ethan Evans for the term of his natural life. Upon Ethan's death the interest ended automatically. Ethan's daughter received nothing because the grant created no estate of inheritance capable of descending to heirs.
Edward Everett deeded land to his daughter while directing that the property return to his heirs after her death. The direction to the heirs was treated as reserving a reversion in Edward rather than creating an estate of inheritance in the daughter.
An estate of inheritance passes to the holder's heirs at death. A life estate ends with the measuring life and cannot descend by inheritance.
Supporting sources
Yes. A fee simple defeasible remains an estate of inheritance because it is inheritable even though subject to possible termination by condition or limitation.
Supporting sources
The definition distinguishes estates measured by a human life from those that continue indefinitely and pass to heirs. This distinction determines whether a future interest arises by reversion or remainder.
Supporting sources
…to the acts of an ancestor as between him and his own heirs” (Hargrave, supra ). The other is confined to the limitation of an estate of inheritance to the heirs of a person who has taken under the same instrument a prior estate of freehold ( Campbell v. Rawdon , 18 N.Y. 412, 420; 29 L. R. A. N. S. 1016). At common law, therefore, and…