Real Property bar exam questions & notes.

An owner of a vacant lot signed and delivered a deed whose granting clause read, in full, "I convey the lot to my niece." The deed said nothing else about the estate — no mention of heirs, no durational words, and no condition of any kind. Years later the owner died, and a cousin who would have taken the lot under the owner's will claimed the niece held only a life estate, because the deed omitted the traditional words "and her heirs." The niece responds that she owns the lot outright and may sell it free of any claim by the owner's estate.

What estate does the niece hold?

1. A fee simple absolute, freely alienable by the niece. Correct
2. A life estate, with a reversion in the owner's estate.
3. A fee simple determinable, subject to a possibility of reverter.
4. A life estate pur autre vie, measured by the owner's life.

A landowner conveyed a parcel to a school district by a deed stating, "to the district so long as the parcel is used for public school purposes." For decades the district ran an elementary school on the land. Last month the district closed the school, sold the buildings for scrap, and began operating the parcel as a paid commuter parking lot. The landowner's daughter, who inherited everything the landowner owned at death, now claims the parcel. The district responds that it still holds title because no one has yet gone to court to take the land back.

Who owns the parcel, and why?

1. The district, unless and until the daughter sues and obtains a judgment of forfeiture.
2. The daughter, because the district's fee ended automatically when school use ceased. Correct
3. The district, because a mere change in use does not affect a fee simple.
4. The daughter, but only if she re-enters and retakes possession of the parcel.

A father's will left the family home "to my son for life, then to my daughter." The son has lived in the house rent-free for eight years. In that time he has stopped paying the annual property taxes — now several years delinquent — ignored a growing roof leak that has begun to rot the attic joists, and let the gutters and downspouts fail. The home's fair rental value comfortably exceeds the taxes owed. The daughter, who holds the remainder and lives nearby, has watched the house deteriorate and the tax lien mount, and she wants to hold her brother responsible.

On these facts, what is the daughter's best claim against the son?

1. Permissive waste, for neglecting ordinary repairs and unpaid property taxes. Correct
2. Affirmative waste, because neglecting the house actively destroyed its value.
3. Nothing, because a life tenant owes no duties at all to a remainderman.
4. Ameliorative waste, because the changes altered the property's character.

A landowner conveyed a wildflower meadow "to my gardener for life." The deed said nothing about what happens to the meadow after the gardener's death — it named no remainderman and contained no further gift over of any kind. The gardener, now seventy-eight, has tended the meadow for years. The landowner, still living and in her fifties, is reorganizing her estate plan and wonders exactly what interest, if any, she kept in the meadow — in particular, whether she may sell that interest now or leave it by will to someone else before the gardener ever dies.

What interest did the landowner retain?

1. A possibility of reverter, which becomes possessory only if a stated event occurs.
2. A right of entry, which she must assert in order to regain the meadow.
3. Nothing, because conveying a life estate exhausts the grantor’s ownership.
4. A reversion, which is transferable during life and passes at her death. Correct