A defeasible fee is best described as:

• A. An estate that can be defeated by certain events
• B. A life estate measured by time
• C. A grant to heirs only
• D. An estate of indefinite duration

Answer: (A)

Defeasible fee describes an ownership in real property that is effectively a fee simple but can be defeated by a specified event or condition. The key idea is that the owner's title isn’t absolute; it can be cut short if the stated condition occurs or if a particular event happens, with the property passing to another party or reverting to the grantor. This is what makes it different from a life estate, which is limited by the lifespan of a person rather than by a condition; or from a grant to heirs (an archaic fee tail), which is a different type of inheritance restriction; and from an estate of indefinite duration that doesn’t specify a defeasing condition. For example, a grant that says “to A so long as the property is used for education” creates a defeasible fee because a failure to meet the condition could defeat the estate.