Minnesota Estates in Land

Minnesota Estates in Land

Minnesota Estates in Land

Common Law Estates in Land

Under the historical common law, an estate in land was the degree, nature, and quality of a person’s interest in land or other property.

See Black’s Law Dictionary, Seventh Edition, 1990

Types of Minnesota Estates in Land

M.S. Section 500.01 identifies that Minnesota estates in land can be classified as being of four different types, by providing as follows:

Estates in lands are divided into

  • estates of inheritance

  • estates for life,

  • estates for years, and

  • estates at will and by sufferance.

Put another way, Minnesota estates in land can be placed into three different categories:

  • the fee simple,
  • the life estate, and
  • the leasehold estate.

Minnesota Fee Simple Estates

A fee simple estate is the highest estate one can have in Minnesota property.

Steele v. Fish, 2 Minn. 153 (Gil. 129) (1854).

The owner of the fee simple estate in land is able to exercise the absolute and exclusive control of the property as against all others.

Finnes v. Selover, Bates & Co., 108 Minn. 331, 122 N.W. 174 (1909).

Minnesota Absolute Estates

The absolute form of each Minnesota estate in land identifies the length of time which the estate will last. For example:

  • A fee simple absolute – generally identified as a fee simple – has an unlimited duration. In contrast, a fee simple defeasible is subject to termination upon the occurrence of some subsequent event.
  • A life estate lasts for the lives of one or more individuals, whether such persons are the life tenant(s) or other person(s);
  • A leasehold term of years continues for some finite period of time which can be measured by the calendar.

Minnesota Freehold Estates

A Minnesota freehold estate is either a Minnesota estate in land held in fee simple, or a Minnesota life estate held for a life term.

Minnesota Life Estates

A Minnesota life estate is a freehold estate that is held by the life tenant for the tenant’s own life, or the life or lives of one or more other persons.

The typical real estate transaction creating a Minnesota life estate contemplates a property owner conveying the fee title interest to a third-party, and reserving to the grantor a life estate.

If such a conveyance is made to a person for a term of that person’s own life or for that of another, the grantee of the interest is referred to as a life tenant.

If the duration of a life estate is measured by the life of someone other than the life tenant, it is known as a life estate pur autre vie.

Minnesota Estates for Years

An estate for years is limited for a certain period of time of fixed duration.

Seabloom v. Krier, 219 Minn. 362, 18 N.W.2d 88 (1945).

Tenancies from year to year are estates at will.

Hunter v. Frost, 47 Minn. 1, 49 N.W. 327 (1891).

Minnesota Estates in Possession

Both a life estate and a leasehold term of years are followed by a future interest, either:

  • a reversion in the grantor, or

  • a remainder in another grantee.

 A.   Minnesota Reversions

A reversion is the interest left in an owner of property when such person:

  • creates from his or her estate in land a lesser estate for the benefit of another person, and
  • does not identify the party who is to take the estate in land when the lesser estate expires.

B.   Minnesota Remainders

A remainder is a future interest in a grantee that is capable of becoming possessory at the termination of the prior estate, such as a conveyance of real property “to A for his or her life, and then to B forever.”

In that situation, A would have a life estate in the real property, and B would own a remainder interest in fee simple absolute in such real property.

C.   Minnesota Estates in Possession and in Expectancy

With respect to the time of enjoyment, M.S. Section 500.06 identifies that Minnesota estates in land are divided into:

  • estates in possession, and
  • estates in expectancy.

D.   Minnesota Estates in Possession

M.S. Section 500.07 identifies that a Minnesota estate in possession is one in which the owner has an immediate right to the possession of the property.

See, e.g., In re Estate of Van Den Boom, 590 N.W.2d 350 (Minn. Ct. App. 1999).

E.   Minnesota Estates in Expectancy

M.S. Section 500.07 also identifies that a Minnesota estate in expectancy is one in which the right to the possession of the property is postponed to a future period.

In re Estate of Van Den Boom, 590 N.W.2d 350 (Minn. Ct. App. 1999) (expectancy estate is one in which right to possession is postponed to future period; expectancy is termed a remainder when it is dependent on a precedent estate).

M.S. Section 500.16 identifies that Minnesota expectant estates are descendible pursuant to intestate succession, devisable by Will, and alienable by deed of conveyance, in the same manner as estates in possession.

M.S. Section 500.08 identifies that Minnesota estates in expectancy are divided into:

(1)       reversions, and

(2)       estates commencing at a future day, known as future estates.

F.   Minnesota Future Estates

M.S. Section 500.08 identifies that a Minnesota future estate is defined as an estate which will commence in possession at a future date, either:

  • without the intervention of a precedent estate, or
  • on the determination, by the lapse of time or otherwise, of a precedent estate created at the same time.

M.S. Section 500.12 identifies that a Minnesota future estate is either vested or contingent, and would be contingent while the person to whom, or the event upon which, they are limited to take effect remains uncertain.

G.   Minnesota Vested Interests

When used with respect to a present or future Minnesota estate, the term vested refers to a title which has become established in some person or persons, and is no longer subject to a contingency.

Snortum v. Snortum, 155 Minn. 231, 193 N.W. 304 (1923);

In re Estate of Van Den Boom, 590 N.W.2d 350 (Minn. Ct. App. 1999).

A right or interest in land that depends on a condition precedent does not vest until the condition is performed, even if the condition is or becomes for any reason impossible of performance.

Hobart v. Kehoe, 110 Minn. 490, 126 N.W. 66(1910).

Conclusion – Minnesota Estates in Land

If you need any assistance with respect to a Minnesota life estate, or a Minnesota remainder interest, contact attorney Gary C. Dahle, at 763-780-8390, or gary@dahlelaw.com.

Copyright 2018 – All Rights Reserved

Gary C. Dahle – Attorney at Law

2704 Mounds View Blvd., Mounds View, MN 55112

Phone:  763-780-8390   Fax: 763-780-1735

gary@dahlelaw.com

Related topics of interest:

Minnesota Title Evidence of Ownership

Legal Disclaimer

Information provided herein is only for general informational and educational purposes. Minnesota real estate law involves many complex legal issues. If you have a specific legal problem about which you are seeking advice, either consult with your own attorney or retain an attorney of your choice.

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