Study for the MBE Critical Pass Test. Enhance your knowledge with flashcards and multiple choice questions. Prepare thoroughly for your exam with detailed hints and explanations.

Multiple Choice

Under the doctrine of worthier title, when a grantor creates a life estate in another but creates a future interest in grantor's heirs, which is true?

Worthier title stops a grantor from giving a future interest to the grantor’s own heirs when the grantor conveys a life estate to someone else. If the grantor tries to set up a future interest in the heirs, that interest is void. What remains is that the grantee holds a life estate, and the grantor retains a reversion because nothing else was lawfully created to take effect after the life estate ends. So the heirs do not have a valid contingent remainder, the person who holds the life estate keeps that estate, and the grantor keeps the reversion. That aligns with the statement that the contingent remainder in the grantor’s heirs is void, the life tenant has a life estate, and the grantor has a reversion. The alternative outcomes—the heirs having a valid remainder, the grantor losing the reversion, or the grantee taking a fee simple absolute—don’t fit the doctrine.

Worthier title stops a grantor from giving a future interest to the grantor’s own heirs when the grantor conveys a life estate to someone else. If the grantor tries to set up a future interest in the heirs, that interest is void. What remains is that the grantee holds a life estate, and the grantor retains a reversion because nothing else was lawfully created to take effect after the life estate ends.

So the heirs do not have a valid contingent remainder, the person who holds the life estate keeps that estate, and the grantor keeps the reversion. That aligns with the statement that the contingent remainder in the grantor’s heirs is void, the life tenant has a life estate, and the grantor has a reversion. The alternative outcomes—the heirs having a valid remainder, the grantor losing the reversion, or the grantee taking a fee simple absolute—don’t fit the doctrine.