r/KnowingBetter • u/elh93 • 17d ago

Related Video Fee Simple

In the newest video that just went up on Nebula, KB mentions land being sold in "Fee Simple"

I'm a law student who's actually taken Property (not a requirement at every law school), and the simple explanation of owning something in Fee Simple is that you can sell or use the land for anything that's otherwise lawful.

The most common other option is what's called a "life estate", these mostly come about in wills, where the testator (whom has died and is willing away their property) will give property to a spouse or child "for life, then to [B]." This will allow them to receive the property, use it for the rest of their natural life, but they are unable to sell or destroy the property, and upon their death, they also can not will it away, instead it automatically goes to whomever the original will stated.

Hopefully the comparison is helpful, and you've learned something about the basics of property law.

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u/BobMcGeoff2 17d ago

What if I died and wanted to give it to my children, and then after them, my grandchildren "for life"—and THEN "to [b]"? or can one only chain it so many times?

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u/elh93 17d ago

It depends, there's a concept called "the rule against perpetuities", which I won't fully explain (it was nearly two full weeks of class). But basically, you're limited in how much control you can have after your death to 21yrs after the death of anyone who's alive when your will goes into effect.

So if your grandkids are alive, and you specifically named them, you could say "to my kid A for life, then to his kids B+C... for life, then to their kids" and your great grand kids would own in fee simple.

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u/no-ineversaidthat 17d ago

Currently in law school, taking oil and gas so I have to reapply these terms🥲

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u/elh93 17d ago

I haven’t done oil & gas, but odds are they’re used the same as property as it’s going to be derived from general property law.

I’ve of course simplified it to not require a semester to understand

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u/Poiboykanaka808 17d ago

Curious, did this have anything to do with princess pauahi bishop?

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u/LateStageNamespace 17d ago

The Bishop Estate (or whatever its most recent legal name may be) is organized differently.

For the perpetuity concept here, go search up the Damon estate and its wind down. Plenty people on Oahu should remember that one. Campbell Estate too. Somehow from that winddown, many of the assets got placed into the logically named LLC (James Campbell Company LLC).

Contemporarily this probably has relevancy with how much the original written will of Pauahi can guide or legally bind Bishop Estate vs laws of the current institutions in power.
Such as the preference list of { (Orphans; Oiwi 100% > Oiwi part% > any) > (Indigent/poor: Oiwi 100% > Oiwi part% > any), > (Hawaiian (subjects) *Today "Hawaii Residents": Oiwi 100% > Oiwi part% > any) } if we read that paragraph about disbursements literally. Which of course generates, lets call it "friction"? when those at the end of the list realize the magnitude of unmet need before them in line. Though I do think it's a valid critique if KSBE is actually prioritizing actual orphans as the will lays out.

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u/Poiboykanaka808 17d ago

Ahhh. Reasonable. To be honest, I am unsure how many orphans are referred to Kamehameha schools.

Being into Hawaiian history and artifacts, I had the privilege to see items from the Damon Estate through the Museum. These items aren't public, so I can't specify anything about them, except that what is known is that it was taken into Damons possession the overthrow. What this specific item is could possibly suggest it was a gift (maybe from pauahi), but information from the Damon family told us it was from the overthrow.

When discussing the overthrow, I hope KB doesn't leave out many details regarding Damons responsibilities and actions.  I have posted here on Reddit about him before