I am working to get more property law videos up on my YouTube page. I just loaded a new one on the fee simple determinable.
Property law in law school is mainly focused on real property, rights to land. An interest in land is called an estate. There are different types of estate.
A fee simple estate means that a person has as many rights as possible with respect to a particular piece of land. He can do what he wants with the land (subject to applicable zoning laws of course) and can give it to someone else.
A fee simple determinable is just like a fee simple estate except that the person’s interest in the land can end automatically if something occurs.
Let’s say O gives land to A: “I convey this land to you and your heirs so long as you use it for educational purposes.” Our magic words here are “so long as”. “So long as”; “while”; “during”; and “until” are words that may create a fee simple determinable. A has the land but as soon as he no longer uses the land for educational purposes, the land automatically reverts back to O.
