MEE Past Issue Breakdown
MEE Past Issue Breakdown
MEE past issue breakdown: Taking the Multistate Essay Exam (MEE) or Uniform Bar Exam (UBE)? Our MEE past issue breakdown will show you what has been tested on the essay portion of the UBE as well as the MEE. (One of the components of the UBE is the MEE—that is why this post will help if you are in a UBE state!)
Here, we breakdown the most recent MEE questions. In our MEE past issue breakdown for each year, we tell you not only what subjects were tested, but also, which topics have been recently tested. We use the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ (NCBE) questions and sample answers to develop this MEE past issue breakdown list.
Note: If you are interested in a detailed overview of the MEE topics that have been tested most frequently, check out our MEE One-Sheets. They are one of our most highly rated products!
MEE Past Issue Breakdown
July 2024 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Real Property
- Implied warranty of habitability for new homes (or implied warranty of workmanlike construction)
- Warranty deed
- Quitclaim deed
- Easement by necessity
- Note on special warranty deeds
- Question 2: Corporations
- Duties of controlling shareholders
- Business judgment rule
- Direct and derivative shareholder claims
- Question 3: Constitutional Law
- Contracts Clause
- Equal Protection Clause, standards of review, rational basis review
- Substantive Due Process
- Question 4: Contracts
- Article 2 of the UCC
- Contract formation under the UCC
- Statute of Frauds, specially manufactured goods
- Delegation of duties
- Question 5: Family Law
- Modification of child custody order, requirement of a substantial change in circumstances
- Child’s custody preference
- Timing of request for modification of child custody order
- Joint custody
- Question 6: Civil Procedure
- Mandatory disclosures
- Scope of discovery
- Motion for judgment as a matter of law
February 2024 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Agency and Partnership
- Definition and requirements for a partnership
- Transfer of partnership interest
- Interest transferee is not a partner without the consent of other partners
- Partnership property
- Question 2: Contracts and Sales
- Article 2 governs transactions in goods
- Express warranty
- Disclaimer of express warranty
- Mutual mistake
- Risk of mistake allocation
- Question 3: Evidence
- Judicial notice of adjudicative facts
- Opportunity to be heard concerning judicial notice
- Character evidence
- Question 4: Real Property
- English rule and American rule for possession
- Assignment
- Holdover tenant and periodic tenancy
- Question 5: Criminal Procedure
- Double Jeopardy Clause
- Question 6: Decedents’ Estates
- Stock dividends
- Exoneration of a mortgage
- Anti-lapse statutes
- Lack of residuary clause
- Advancements
July 2023 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Torts
- Negligence
- Trespass to land
- Injunctive relief for claim of trespass or nuisance
- Question 2: Agency & Partnership / LLCs
- Partnership formation
- LLC manager as agent to the LLC/liability of an agent on a contract
- Piercing the corporate veil
- Question 3: Trusts and Future Interests
- Termination of a trust/Claflin doctrine
- Modification of a trust
- Question 4: Civil Procedure
- Statute of limitations
- Summary judgment
- Subject-matter jurisdiction
- Question 5: Secured Transactions
- Article 9
- Attachment
- Perfection
- Priority
- Question 6: Criminal Procedure
- Miranda warnings
- Terry stop and frisk
- Right to remain silent
- Waiver
- Jailhouse confessions
February 2023 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Decedents’ Estates
- Insane-delusion rule
- Mental capacity required to execute a valid will
- Standing to contest a will (“financial interest test”)
- Question 2: Criminal Law and Procedure (really just Criminal Procedure!)
- Proper execution of a search warrant in a suspect’s home
- Knock-and-announce rule
- Plain-view doctrine
- Terry search scope
- Exclusionary rule scope
- Particularity of a warrant
- Question 3: Civil Procedure
- Rule 14 impleader (third-party joinder)
- Specific personal jurisdiction
- Rule 4(k)(1)(B) (100-mile bulge rule) for personal jurisdiction for impleader
- Appeal of the dismissal of a third-party complaint in an action where other claims remain unresolved under the FRCP (Rule 54 exception to the final judgment rule (“no reason for just delay”))
- Question 4: Secured Transactions
- Purchase-money security interest (PMSI) in consumer goods and equipment
- Attachment requirements
- Security agreement requirements
- Application of Article 9
- Perfection of PSMI in consumer goods and equipment
- Financing statement requirements
- Question 5: Real Property
- Adverse possession
- Color of title and constructive adverse possession
- Tacking for cause of action
- Tolling of statute of limitations for disability (minor)
- Question 6: Evidence
- Admissibility of a statement made during a subsequently withdrawn guilty plea
- Former testimony of an unavailable witness
- Rule 401 relevancy
- Rule 404 MIMIC (absence of mistake)
- 403 balancing test
- Impeachment (prior acts of dishonesty)
July 2022 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Evidence
- Expert witness testimony
- Character evidence (and MIMIC—motive)
- Relevance
- Question 2: Contracts
- Parol evidence rule
- Interpretation of terms
- Enforceability of a covenant not to compete
- All common law (no UCC)
- Question 3: Corporations and Agency
- Agency relationship
- Authority (actual, apparent, ratification)
- Duty of loyalty (director on both sides of transaction) and the safe harbors
- Judicial dissolution of the corporation due to oppression by majority shareholder
- Question 4: Trusts/Decedents’ Estates
- Trust creation/elements of a valid trust
- Trust res/property
- Revocability
- Revocation by physical act
- Oral trusts
- Rule Against Perpetuities
- A trust for the benefit of a political party is not a charitable trust.
- Intestacy
- Per capita with representation
- Trust creation/elements of a valid trust
- Question 5: Civil Procedure
- Necessary parties (rule 19)
- Subject matter jurisdiction (diversity)
- How to proceed when a necessary party can’t be joined
- Question 6: Real Property
- Life estate, vested remainder, and duties of a life tenant
- Fee simple determinable and possibility of reverter
- Devisability
- RAP
February 2022 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Secured Transactions
- Requirements of attachment
- Classification of collateral—equipment
- Priority between a perfected security interest and a PMSI
- 20-day grace period rule (for PMSI in equipment)
- Question 2: Criminal Law
- Armed robbery
- Theft (larceny)
- Possession (receipt) of stolen property
- Question 3: Corporations and LLCs
- Directors have authority to vote on corporate decisions
- Duty of loyalty (interested director transaction), safe harbor—transaction was ultimately fair to the corporation
- Recovery from a derivative lawsuit goes to the corporation, not the shareholder
- Shareholder who didn’t own shares at the time of the alleged wrongful conduct does not have standing to bring a derivative suit
- Question 4: Agency
- No actual or apparent authority—principal is not liable
- Undisclosed principal—agent is liable
- Ratification
- Apparent authority
- Question 5: Trusts and Future Interests
- Spendthrift trust—preferred creditor (child support), nonpreferred creditor
- Power of appointment—special power of appointment
- Question 6: Contracts
- UCC
- Statute of Frauds, confirmatory memo exception
- Interpreting the terms—gap filler (delivery), course of dealing
- Expectation damages (from purchasing replacement goods)
July 2021 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Torts
- Negligence
- Child’s duty of care
- Physical disability
- Invitee status
- Rescuers
- Joint and several liability
- Question 2: Corporations/LLCs, Conflict of Laws
- Fundamental change (merger)
- Dissenter’s rights (shareholder in closely held corp. voted against merger can demand cash for shares)
- [Conflict of Laws]: internal matters are governed by the state of incorporation
- Question 3: Family Law
- Personal jurisdiction
- PKPA
- UCCJEA
- UIFSA
- Question 4: Criminal Law & Procedure
- Fourth Amendment search & seizure
- Warrantless arrest based on probable cause
- Hot pursuit
- Plain view
- Fourteenth Amendment due process identification procedures
- Subsequent in-court identification
- Fourth Amendment search & seizure
- Question 5: Decedent’s Estates
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- Antilapse statute (default rule; can be changed within the terms of the will)
- Definition of “heirs”
- Express survivorship requirement versus antilapse statute/provision
- Residuary gift lapse (common law vs. UPC)
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- Question 6: Civil Procedure
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- Subject-matter jurisdiction
- Supplemental jurisdiction
- Erie doctrine
- Federal pleading requirements (“notice pleading”)
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February 2021 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Agency and Partnership
- Partnership formation
- Profit-sharing as prima facie evidence of a partnership
- Partnership liability for negligence
- Employee vs. independent contractor
- Vicarious liability for negligence of an employee
- Vicarious liability for an independent contractor’s negligence
- Partnership formation
- Question 2: Decedents’ Estates
- Partial revocation
- Holographic codicil
- Doctrine of dependent relative revocation
- Incorporation by reference
- Partial intestacy
- Question 3: Civil Procedure
- Joinder—plaintiffs joining with plaintiffs
- Claim preclusion, compulsory counterclaim
- Issue preclusion: offensive non-mutual issue preclusion
- Erie doctrine
- Question 4: Secured Transactions
- Attachment of security interests
- Security agreement needs to sufficiently identify collateral
- Perfection
- Filing a financing statement
- Priority
- Perfected secured party has priority over unperfected party
- Judgment lien creditor has priority over unperfected party
- Security interest perfected before lien was created has priority over the lien
- Attachment of security interests
- Question 5: Real Property
- Easement implied by preexisting use
- Notice acts likely do not apply to implied easements. Purchaser was on inquiry notice of easement.
- Question 6: Contracts
- UCC Art. 2 (sale of goods)
- Statute of Frauds—sale of goods >$500
- Confirmatory memo exception
- Subsequent writing evidencing agreement
October 2020 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Civil Procedure
- ESI must be electronically preserved
- Sanctions—broad discretion
- Adverse inference instruction
- Default judgment may not be appropriate
- Question 2: Trusts
- No definite beneficiaries
- Power of appointment
- Special power of appointment
- Question 3: Evidence
- Opposing party’s statement, declarant’s then-existing state of mind
- Statement against interest
- Public office report offered against accused in criminal case
- Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause
- Question 4: Agency & Partnership
- Partnership bound on contract, agent signed it
- Partners personally liable for obligations
- Partner reimbursed for funds spent
- Partner not reimbursed for actual time unless agreed
- Sale of land, no actual or apparent authority existed, not in ordinary course of business
- Question 5: Constitutional Law
- Free speech
- Content-based—strict scrutiny
- Content-neutral—time, place, manner, intermediate scrutiny
- Narrowly tailored means two different things depending on test applied
- Free speech
- Question 6: Family Law
- UIFSA
- Reduce child support award when material/substantial change in circumstances
- Spousal support modifiable—substantial change in circumstances
September 2020 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Criminal Law
- First-degree murder—interpretation of statute
- Voluntary manslaughter—interpretation of statute
- Defense of others
- Felony murder
- Question 2: Real Property
- Constructive eviction
- Acceptance of surrender
- Covenant of quiet enjoyment and privity of estate with future tenant
- Question 3: Wills
- Mental capacity to create a will
- Proof of mistake by clear and convincing evidence & note on dependent relevant revocation
- Valid codicil, holographic will, incorporation by reference doctrine
- Question 4: Constitutional Law
- Regulatory taking
- Permanent physical invasion
- Public use
- Question 5: Agency & Corporations/LLCs
- First to file or perfect rule, equipment, PMSI is perfected & superior over non-PMSI
- Equipment, not a true lease, perfected takes over unperfected
- Question 6: Contracts
- Implied warranty of fitness
- Rejection or revoked acceptance
- Damages
July 2020 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Evidence
- Subsequent remedial measures
- Authentication (handwritten letter)
- Best Evidence Rule (original vs. copy)
- Hearsay—statement against interest
- Physician-patient privilege
- Question 2: Corporations / Constitutional Law
- Corporations
- Shareholder inspect/copy board minutes
- Shareholder action not legal if mandates board not approve corporate political expenditures unless authorized by shareholder
- Constitutional Law
- Citizens United corporation has free speech rights
- Corporations
- Question 3: Wills / Trusts & Future Interests
- Charitable trust; RAP
- Noncharitable trust
- Consanguinity method; parentelic distribution
- Question 4: Family Law
- State may grant a divorce if the person is domiciled
- State may grant custody even if no PJ over other respondent parent
- State may not grant property because need PJ over respondent
- Fault basis may be established for divorce
- Best interest of the child factors
- Question 5: Secured Transactions
- First to file or perfect rule, equipment, PMSI is perfected and superior over non-PMSI
- Equipment, not a true lease, perfected takes over unperfected
- Question 6: Real Property
- Fair Housing Act of 1968
- Newspaper, discriminatory ad
- Fixtures
February 2020 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Contracts
- Common law
- Failure to perform, excuse, material breach
- Predominate purpose of the contract
- Substantial performance—factors the courts consider
- Damages for breach of construction contract
- Question 2: Real Property
- Unilateral execution of mortgage or lease by one of two persons holding the title as joint tenants with right of survivorship
- Title theory state
- Four unities of title
- Severance of title and interest because of lease
- Joint tenants have equal rights of possession—must be excluded for liability
- Joint tenants entitled to the rental income
- Question 3: Civil Procedure
- Rule 20(a)(2)—joinder (permissive joinder); same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences
- Rule 14(a)(1)—third-party complaint (impleader)
- Indemnification
- Question 4: Secured Transactions
- Attachment
- After-acquired collateral
- Collateral constitutes accounts
- Notification by the secured party to debtor after default—who payment made to
- Question 5: Agency
- Apparent agency
- Actual authority
- Apparent authority
- Disclosed principal
- Vicarious liability (respondeat superior)
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- Independent contractor; principal sometimes liable
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- Direct liability
- Negligent selection
- Apparent agency
- Question 6: Evidence/Criminal Law
- Evidence
- Relevancy
- Hearsay—nonhearsay for context; nonhearsay opposing party’s adopted statement, hearsay exception statements of intent/then-existing state of mind
- Character—prior crime, wrong or act, criminal D
- Imprachment
- Prior convictions
- Bias
- Criminal Law
- Self-defense
- Evidence
July 2019 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Decedent’s Estates/Conflict of Laws
- Conflict of Laws:
- validity of a will
- Decedents’ Estates:
- holographic will
- conditional will
- mistake/ambiguity
- antilapse statute
- pretermitted child
- Conflict of Laws:
- Question 2: Criminal Law & Procedure
- Fifth Amendment Miranda warnings
- Invocation of the right to counsel does not last in perpetuity
- In order to invoke Miranda rights the invocation of the right to counsel must be unequivocal
- Description of the procedure for obtaining counsel does not undermine conveyance of Miranda rights
- Question 3: Corporations & LLCs
- Fiduciary duties of controlling shareholder
- Non-payment of dividends can be justified by rational business justification
- Duty of loyalty (self-dealing and usurping corporate opportunity) and defenses to violation of a duty of loyalty
- Question 4: Contracts
- Damages:
- expectation damages recoverable
- consequential damages must be foreseeable
- duty to mitigate damages
- Damages:
- Question 5: Family Law
- Marriage support obligations
- Nonintervention doctrine
- Parental decisions including medical decisions are subject to limitations
- State jurisdiction over custody (UCCJEA) (PKPA)
- Parental decisions by a fit parent should be given weight in court: wishes of a child in custody determination
- Question 6: Civil Procedure/Constitutional Law
- Civil Procedure:
- subject matter jurisdiction—diversity jurisdiction in a class action/Class Action Fairness Act, where a person is domiciled (residence + intent to remain)
- Erie issue (federal court applies federal procedural law)
- Constitutional Law:
- standing
- Civil Procedure:
February 2019 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Torts
- Negligence
- Standard of care
- Proximate cause
- Res ipsa loquitur
- Joint and several liability
- Negligence
- Question 2: Secured Transactions
- Validity and enforceability of security agreements
- Perfected/unperfected security interests and rules of priority
- Rights and remedies on default including the secured party’s right to take possession and dispose of collateral
- Question 3: Agency and Partnership
- Formation of general partnerships
- Powers and liability of partners
- Dissolution/winding up
- Question 4: Civil Procedure
- Diversity jurisdiction
- Determining citizenship of individuals and corporations
- Peraonal jurisdiction
- Question 5: Trusts and Future Interests
- Discretionary support trust subject to spendthrift clause
- Powers and duties of trustees—duty of care, duty to act impartially, principal and income allocations
- The necessaries doctrine
- Question 6: Criminal Law and Procedure
- Burglary
- Larceny
- Embezzlement
- Receiving stolen property
- Required mental state
July 2018 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Constitutional Law
- The federal government cannot “commandeer” states to enforce a federal regulatory scheme
- Congress may use its spending power on state and local law enforcement activities
- Question 2: Contracts
- UCC governs transactions of goods (lawn mowers)
- Consideration is needed to make a promise to hold open an offer binding under common law but it is not needed under Article 2
- An offer cannot be accepted once it is revoked
- Question 3: Real Property
- An expansion is a nonconforming use under a zoning ordinance if it results in a substantial change of use
- Recording act when a mechanic’s lien is involved
- Question 4: Trusts and future interests
- Breach of duty of loyalty and breach of duty of care
- the Uniform Principal and Income Act
- How the trust principal will pass when a remainder interest is involved
- Question 5: Evidence
- Relevancy
- Lay v. Expert testimony
- Hearsay and business records exception for records kept in the ordinary course of business
- Question 6: Corporations & LLCs
- A corporation comes into being at the time of filing the Articles
- A promoter is liable for pre-incorporation contracts but if a court applied the “de facto corporation” or “corporation by estoppel” doctrine, the promoter is likely not liable
- Partners are liable for debts and obligations of partnership
February 2018 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Family Law
- a premarital agreement is binding if entered into voluntarily and with reasonable disclosure of assets
- separate property can become marital property but generally inheritance and property acquired before marriage is separate
- custody decisions are based on the best interest of the child and one parent’s fault (adultery) will not preclude that parent from exercising parenting rights
- Question 2: Criminal Law
- incompetency to stand trial
- M’Naghten test for insanity
- Question 3: Contracts
- Article 2 versus common law – which law applies (examinees could have argued either way)
- parol evidence rule
- modifications not precluded by the parol evidence rule
- Question 4: Real Property
- notice of an encumbrance, such as an easement, will prevent a party from obtaining damages for breach of covenant
- notice can be actual or constructive
- implied warranty of habitability
- Question 5: Civil Procedure
- Rule 11 requires a reasonable pre-filing inquiry into the facts
- 21-day safe harbor allows attorney to correct pleading
- the court may choose not to impose sanctions
- sanctions for asserting a legal contention unwarranted by existing law can be imposed on the attorney and not the defendants
- Question 6: Agency (really Partnership, but classified as Agency by the NCBE)
- withdrawal not wrongful if partnership does not set limits on withdrawal
- dissolution does not terminate fiduciary duties
- a purchase by one party of a partnership opportunity during the winding up phase violates the duty of loyalty
July 2017 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Torts
- abnormally dangerous activity is subject to strict liability,
- negligence per se,
- liability for independent contractor–possible to be liable if there is a special danger inherent in the work
- Question 2: Constitutional Law
- 11th Amendment precludes a private party suing a state in federal court when seeking money damages but a private party may seek injunctive relief only from a state official,
- the dormant commerce clause/burden on interstate commerce
- Question 3: Secured Transactions
- a sale of accounts is governed by Article 9,
- a perfected security interest has priority over an unperfected one,
- validity of an assignment of one’s interest
- Question 4: Decedents’ Estates & Trusts/Future Interests
- requirements for a valid will,
- effect of having an interested witness–at common law the will would have been invalid, but modernly it is valid,
- incorporation-by-reference doctrine,
- RAP issue
- Question 5: Evidence & Criminal Law/Procedure
- hearsay exclusion,
- public safety exception to Miranda doctrine,
- present sense impression,
- excited utterance
- Question 6: Civil Procedure/Conflict of Laws
- amendment of a motion to dismiss is generally permitted,
- service of process not sufficient when served to the home of a parent where the defendant no longer lives,
- the Klaxon rule–a federal court sitting in diversity will apply the choice-of-law rules of the state where it sits
February 2017 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Contracts
- UCC sale of goods,
- offer and firm offer/option contract,
- revocation of offer
- Question 2: Trusts & Future Interests
- trustee’s duties to act in accordance with the terms,
- exercising a special power of appointment,
- elective share of probate estate for spouse
- Question 3: Family Law/Conflict of Laws
- common law marriage in State A will be recognized by all other states,
- lottery winnings that are won during the marriage are “marital property”,
- bigamy and the putative spouse doctrine,
- visitation rights with non-biological child
- Question 4: Corporations
- a “proper purpose” is needed to inspect board minutes,
- business judgment rule,
- duty of loyalty
- Question 5: Agency
- when an agent binds a principle–to a disclosed, partially disclosed, or undisclosed principal,
- ratification
- Question 6: Real Property
- duty to mitigate when tenant leaves by re-renting lease,
- assignment restraints and validity of such restraints,
- surrender
July 2016 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Corporations & LLC’s
- the default rule is that LLC’s are member-managed,
- actual and apparent authority of an agent,
- withdrawal of a member results in dissociation but not a dissolving of the LLC
- Question 2: Evidence/Criminal Law & Procedure
- crying not protected by privilege against self-incrimination or Miranda and does not pose a hearsay problem,
- Miranda warnings required in a custodial interrogation and must be honored,
- past recollection recorded hearsay exception not received as exhibit,
- party admission
- Question 3: Torts
- negligence and market share liability,
- defective products,
- liability of doctor in negligence case
- Question 4: Secured Transactions/Real Property
- security interest in equipment,
- rights upon default,
- fixtures and requirement of fixture filing,
- attachment and perfection
- Question 5: Contracts
- assignment,
- third party beneficiary
- Question 6: Civil Procedure
- personal service of process give jurisdiction if someone is voluntarily in the state,
- federal question jurisdiction,
- motion to dismiss for improper venue
February 2016 Multistate Essay Exam
- Question 1: Secured Transactions
- buyer in the ordinary course of business takes free from perfected interest in a consumer good, generally,
- perfection and attachment,
- proceeds
- Question 2: Evidence
- present sense impression,
- excited utterance,
- 6th amendment confrontation clause,
- statement of identification,
- character evidence not permitted for conformity purposes
- Question 3: Agency & Partnership
- actual authority,
- partners in LLPs generally do not incur personal liability,
- duty of care and loyalty
- Question 4: Constitutional Law
- dormant commerce clause – burden on interstate commerce,
- discriminatory laws, and
- the market participant exception
- Question 5: Decedents’ Estates
- agent acting under DPOA can act even if patient’s children object,
- good faith acts protected,
- application of state statute to determine child could inherit from will
- Question 6: Family Law
- premarital agreement generally enforced,
- division of marital property upon divorce–e.g. lottery winnings won during marriage are divided,
- income that is “active” may be divided
- equitable division of property
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