Estate Types

Introduction to Estate Types

Estates are classified into two types: freehold and nonfreehold. The freehold estates found in modern property law are the fee simple and the life fee. The fee simple estate is essentially absolute ownership of land, including the power to devise by will or to sell. The life fee estate is the right to control property during one’s lifetime only; the grantor of a life estate designates the party who is to come into possession on the death of the life tenant. A freehold estate in fee tail, or entail, is a grant to a person and his or her descendants forever in a direct line. The objective of entailing, which still exists in the United Kingdom, is to preserve family estates from division.

Nonfreehold estates for the most part are those established by leases of real property. Two common types are the estate for years and the periodic estate. In the former the right to occupy the realty terminates at a fixed time; in the latter the lease period is for a definite term that is renewed automatically if neither party signifies an intention to terminate the tenancy.

Today the term estate generally refers to property of every sort that is owned by an individual and that may be passed on to another at the owner’s discretion. A deceased person’s estate is disposed of according to law and to instructions given prior to death. An executor or administrator is responsible for carrying out the disposition of the estate. See Will.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Estate Types in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Estate Types