We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Procedures

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What Is a Fee Tail?

By C. K. Lanz
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 12,222
Share

In property law, a fee tail is a freehold estate that allows family lands to remain intact through generations by limiting inheritance to the principal lineal descendants of the grantor. The most typical form of this estate requires that possession be conveyed from eldest son to eldest son for as long as the bloodline continues. This estate cannot be divided and sold, nor can it be conveyed to anyone who is not the principal lineal descendant. This was a crucial freehold estate for medieval England’s landed aristocracy because it was an effective means of preserving the family’s prestige and wealth for generations. The fee tail was abolished in England in 1925 and is nearly extinct in the United States.

Freehold estates emerged after the adoption of the statute of Quia Emptores in England in 1290. Under the feudal system, multiple people, such as a lord and his tenant, could simultaneously have rights in one parcel of land. Quia Emptores granted tenants the right to transfer their land without their lord’s permission, thus marking the beginning of free alienability. Freehold estates, including the fee simple, the life estate, and the fee tail, developed as a result and were usually held by the nobility. These freehold estates can be distinguished by their respective durations.

A fee tail is created when the grantor conveys the estate to a known person and the heirs of his body. “The heirs of his body” are the words of limitation necessary to create this type of estate as a matter of law. These words of limitation can specify male heirs or heirs parented by or descended from a particular person. In theory, it is possible to create a fee tail female, although there are no extant examples of this type of fee tail estate.

A holder of this kind of estate has only a limited right to transfer the estate. The holder can alienate his or her possessory rights only as long as he or she is alive. Upon the holder’s death, the estate would pass to the lineal heir regardless of who is in actual possession. As a result, this becomes a powerful legal tool for preserving an estate and ensuring that it remains in the immediate family bloodline.

It is possible to undo a fee tail by converting the estate into a fee simple. This is normally done via an inter vivos transfer to another person. This process is called disentailing the tail. If the bloodline ends, then the estate reverts back to the original grantor or his or her heirs.

In the 18th century, the newly independent United States adopted most of the English property law system, but some saw this particular kind of estate as a threat to democratic values and an obstacle to freedom of alienation. Thomas Jefferson, for example, fought to abolish the fee tail in Virginia because he saw the estate as facilitating the perpetuation of a landed aristocracy in the new country. This estate was abolished in England in 1925 in part because land owners could no longer afford to maintain the large estates they had inherited but were prohibited from dividing and selling. As of 2011, only four states continue to recognize this estate in America: Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

Share
MyLawQuestions is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
By anon348685 — On Sep 19, 2013

Excellent article. The clearest explanation I have come across.

Share
https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-is-a-fee-tail.htm
Copy this link
MyLawQuestions, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

MyLawQuestions, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.