MBE Rules · Real Property
Fee tail (historical)
The rule
A fee tail ("to A and the heirs of his body") historically restricted inheritance to lineal descendants of the grantee, reverting to the grantor when the bloodline ended. Nearly all U.S. jurisdictions have abolished it by statute and convert the grant into a fee simple absolute (majority) or a life estate in A with remainder to A's issue.
In plain English
An old English estate designed to keep land in a family bloodline. Modern bar answer: recognize the language, then say it is converted — usually into a fee simple absolute — under the applicable statute.
Memory hook
"Heirs of the body" = fee tail = dead letter → treat as fee simple.
The trap
Students try to apply the tail literally. On the MBE the point is knowing it was abolished and what it converts to.
Drill this rule until it can't fail you.
Vrenberg generates unlimited questions on this exact rule, tracks your mastery of it, and brings it back until it sticks.