Also known as: tenancies in tail · fee tail · estate tail
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A concurrent estate in which two or more persons hold an estate in fee tail as tenants in common or tenants by the entirety. The underlying fee tail arises from conveyances that limit succession to lineal heirs under the Statute De Donis in jurisdictions that continue to recognize the estate. Each concurrent tenant possesses the same powers of alienation and is subject to the same restrictions on devisability that attach to a fee tail held in severalty.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Tristan Thompson and Tiana Tan receive a single deed granting Blackacre to them and the heirs of their bodies. The conveyance creates a tenancy in tail held as tenants in common. Each may alienate only an interest defeasible by the other's lineal heirs upon death without surviving issue.
Tabitha Taylor conveys Greenacre to Talia Torres and Titus Torres for life with remainder to the issue of Talia Torres and Titus Torres and their heirs. The limitation creates a fee tail in the issue. Because the deed satisfies the required language, the issue hold the estate in tail as concurrent tenants subject to the rules governing creation of such interests.
Theo Thomas and Taliah Tang, husband and wife, receive a deed granting Whiteacre to them and the heirs of their bodies. The conveyance creates a tenancy in tail held by the entirety. Only a conveyance satisfying both the statutory requirements for tenancy by the entirety and the formalities for disentailment can alienate interests beyond the couple's joint lives.
Triumph Manufacturing and its co-grantee receive a deed in a jurisdiction retaining the Statute De Donis that grants Blueacre to them and the heirs of their bodies. The language creates an estate in fee tail. The estate remains subject to the original limitations on alienation and succession despite the corporate co-grantee.
Tundra Resources and Topaz Mining hold a fee tail in Redacre. They execute an inter vivos deed that meets the state's special ceremonial requirements for disentailment and convey a fee simple interest to a buyer. The conveyance validly enlarges the estate because it satisfies the formalities prescribed for breaking the entail.
TechVista Solutions and its co-holder hold a fee tail in Yellowacre in a jurisdiction where the special formalities of section 79 do not apply. They grant an executory interest to a buyer that would become possessory only if both die without surviving issue. The interest remains subject to defeat by the persons entitled under the original tail limitation upon their deaths.
A tenant in tail must execute an inter vivos conveyance that conforms to any special ceremonial or recording requirements prescribed by state law for a disentailing deed. When those formalities are met, the tenant may create any interest a fee simple owner could create. Failure to satisfy the formalities leaves the interest created by the conveyance subject to defeat by subsequent heirs in tail.
Supporting sources
…upon a fee, and to put it out of the power of the owners to give a clear title for generations. In the more familiar case of an estate tail, the Legislature has acted and the statute has been carried to the farthest verge by construction. Pub. Sts. c. 120, § 15. Coombs v. Anderson , 138 Mass. 376. It is not too much to say…
…representation of the situation. See 27 Fed.Cl. at 71 n. 3. [^maj-8]: At common law, only the estate
…article in 51 Harvard Law Review , already referred to, at p. 663: “The situation is analagous to future interests after an estate tail
No. A person holding an estate in fee tail lacks power to devise any interest in the land. Upon death the estate passes automatically to the next heir in tail according to the original limitation rather than under the will.
Supporting sources
No. Language that first creates a fee simple and then adds a gift over on an indefinite failure of issue produces a fee simple absolute in the first taker. The attempted limitation is treated as void and does not convert the estate into a fee tail or tenancy in tail.
Supporting sources
Yes, but only when the conveyance satisfies both the requirements for tenancy by the entirety and the rules for creating an estate in fee tail. The grant must run to two persons who are or may become husband and wife and to the issue of those two persons.
Supporting sources