Juris Doctor (JD) Property and Real Estate Transactions Syllabus

Property and Real Estate Transactions syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Property and Real Estate Transactions in Juris Doctor (JD), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Possessory Estates and Future Interests

   3 topics

   • Present Estates
     • Fee simple absolute and defeasible fees
     • Life estates and waste
     • The fee tail
   • Future Interests
     • Reversion, remainder, and executory interests
     • Vested and contingent remainders
     • The Rule Against Perpetuities
   • Concurrent Ownership
     • Tenancy in common and joint tenancy
     • Tenancy by the entirety
     • Rights and duties of cotenants; partition
2. 2

   Landlord-Tenant and Land Use

   3 topics

   • Leasehold Estates
     • Term of years, periodic, and tenancy at will
     • Assignment and sublease
     • Implied warranty of habitability and constructive eviction
   • Easements, Covenants, and Servitudes
     • Creation and termination of easements
     • Real covenants and the touch-and-concern requirement
     • Equitable servitudes and common scheme
   • Zoning and Land Use Regulation
     • Nonconforming uses and variances
     • Regulatory takings (Penn Central, Lucas)
3. 3

   Conveyancing and Title

   4 topics

   • Real Estate Contracts
     • Marketable title and equitable conversion
     • Risk of loss and remedies for breach
   • Deeds and Delivery
     • Types of deeds and covenants of title
     • Delivery, acceptance, and escrow
   • Recording Acts and Title Assurance
     • Race, notice, and race-notice statutes
     • Bona fide purchasers and the shelter rule
     • Title insurance and chain of title
   • Mortgages and Security Interests
     • Mortgages, deeds of trust, and equity of redemption
     • Foreclosure and priorities
4. 4

   Acquisition and Personal Property

   3 topics

   • Adverse Possession
     • Elements: open, notorious, continuous, hostile
     • Tacking and disabilities
   • Personal Property
     • Gifts, finders, and bailments
     • Accession and confusion
   • Water, Support, and Airspace Rights
     • Riparian and prior appropriation doctrines
     • Lateral and subjacent support

Property and Real Estate Transactions flashcards for Juris Doctor (JD)

22 of 62 cards from the Property and Real Estate Transactions deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is a fee simple absolute, and what words historically create it?

   The largest possessory estate—ownership of indefinite duration, freely devisable, descendible, and alienable, with no future interest in another. Created at common law by 'to A and his heirs'; today 'to A' suffices.

2. What is a fee simple determinable and what future interest follows it?

   A fee that automatically ends when a stated condition occurs (durational language: 'so long as,' 'until,' 'while'). The grantor retains a possibility of reverter, which vests automatically.

3. What is a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent and its accompanying future interest?

   A fee that the grantor may cut short upon a stated condition (conditional language: 'but if,' 'provided that,' 'on condition that'). The grantor holds a right of entry/power of termination, which must be affirmatively exercised.

4. What is a fee simple subject to an executory limitation?

   A fee that automatically passes to a third party (not the grantor) upon a stated event. The third party holds an executory interest (the future interest cutting short the fee).

5. What is a life estate, and what is a life estate pur autre vie?

   A possessory estate measured by a person's life. A life estate pur autre vie is measured by the life of someone other than the holder (e.g., 'to A for the life of B').

6. What is the doctrine of waste and the three types of waste?

   A life tenant must not harm the future interest holders' rights. Affirmative (voluntary) waste = active destruction/exploitation; permissive waste = neglect/failure to maintain or pay taxes; ameliorative waste = changes that increase value but alter the property's character.

7. Distinguish a reversion from a remainder.

   A reversion is the future interest left in the grantor after conveying a lesser estate (e.g., a life estate). A remainder is a future interest in a third party that becomes possessory naturally at the end of the prior estate.

8. What is the difference between a vested remainder and a contingent remainder?

   A vested remainder is held by an ascertained person with no condition precedent. A contingent remainder is held by an unascertained person OR is subject to a condition precedent (or both).

9. Define the three types of vested remainders.

   (1) Indefeasibly vested—certain to become possessory; (2) vested subject to total divestment—may be lost upon a condition subsequent; (3) vested subject to open—held by a class that can still admit new members.

10. What is an executory interest, and what are its two types?

    A future interest in a third party that divests or cuts short a prior estate. Shifting executory interest divests a prior grantee; springing executory interest divests the grantor (becomes possessory from the grantor in the future).

11. State the Rule Against Perpetuities.

    No interest is valid unless it must vest, if at all, no later than 21 years after the death of a life in being at the creation of the interest. It applies to contingent remainders, executory interests, and vested remainders subject to open (class gifts).

12. To which future interests does the Rule Against Perpetuities NOT apply?

    Interests retained by the grantor: reversions, possibilities of reverter, and rights of entry. Also does not apply to indefeasibly vested remainders or charity-to-charity transfers.

13. What is the Rule of Convenience in class gifts?

    A class closes (no new members admitted) when any member becomes entitled to immediate possession/distribution, even if biologically more members could still be born. It helps avoid RAP violations.

14. What is the Doctrine of Worthier Title?

    A grantor cannot create a remainder or executory interest in his own heirs; an attempted gift to 'the grantor's heirs' is construed as a reversion in the grantor. It is a rule of construction today.

15. What is the Rule in Shelley's Case?

    If a single instrument gives a life estate to A and a remainder to A's heirs, the remainder merges into A's life estate, giving A a fee simple. The rule has been abolished in most jurisdictions.

16. What are the three concurrent ownership estates and their key distinguishing feature?

    Tenancy in common (no survivorship, separately devisable); joint tenancy (right of survivorship); tenancy by the entirety (right of survivorship between married spouses, with creditor/transfer protections).

17. What four unities are required to create a joint tenancy?

    Time, Title, Interest, and Possession (T-TIP): interests created at the same time, by the same instrument, equal in share/duration, with an equal right to possess the whole. Survivorship intent must also be clearly expressed.

18. How is a joint tenancy severed?

    By destroying a unity—most commonly an inter vivos conveyance by one joint tenant (which converts that share to a tenancy in common). Also by partition or, in some states, a mortgage in title-theory states. A will does NOT sever (survivorship takes effect first).

19. What is the difference between partition in kind and partition by sale?

    Partition in kind is a physical division of the property (preferred). Partition by sale divides the sale proceeds and is used when physical division is impracticable or would prejudice the parties.

20. Can one co-tenant be liable to others for rent? Distinguish ouster from rents received from third parties.

    A co-tenant in sole possession owes nothing for self-use absent ouster (wrongful exclusion). However, a co-tenant must account to others for their share of rents collected from third parties.

21. List the four leasehold (nonfreehold) estates.

    Tenancy for years (fixed term, ends automatically); periodic tenancy (renews until proper notice); tenancy at will (no fixed period, terminable by either party); tenancy at sufferance (holdover tenant wrongfully remaining).

22. What notice is required to terminate a periodic tenancy at common law?

    Notice equal to one full period (e.g., one month for a month-to-month), but a year-to-year tenancy requires only six months' notice. Termination must be effective at the end of a period.

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