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MBE Tips Series: Real Property MBE Tip of the Day

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MBE Strategies Blog Post Series:  Welcome to our MBE tips and tricks blog post series — this post focuses on  Real Property MBE tips. We started this MBE series months ago and it was so popular that we are continuing it each bar exam administration.

You will see 25 scored Real Property MBE questions on the Multistate Bar Exam.

We have posted several MBE tips (which you can find links to at the bottom of this post) that focus on a specific multiple-choice question that many students answer incorrectly.  If you can master these questions, it could increase your MBE score by that many points if you see any of these issues tested again (which, by the way, you will!). These posts of MBE tips and tricks will not only cover substantive law but also strategy.  So each post covers one highly-tested area of substantive law as well as an important MBE strategy. You can sign up to receive these posts directly to your inbox for the upcoming administration at the bottom of this page.

Do your best to answer this Real Property MBE question (before even looking at the answer choices and before looking at the answer below!) Ask yourself:  What is the subject? What is the legal issue? What is the rule and analysis? What is the conclusion? Try to answer these beginning questions before even reading the answer choices. Then, uncover the answer as well as read more about our MBE tip of the day.

Real Property MBE Question

Owner granted his real estate “to Museum so long as the property is always used for museum purposes.” Owner then died. Owner left a will that gave “all of my estate” to a friend. Owner’s only heir at law was a daughter.

The museum ended up closing after a downturn in business. The museum sold its property to a developer by quitclaim deed. The developer wanted to use the land to develop a retail mall. The developer brings an appropriate action to quiet title against the museum, the daughter, and the friend.

The court should find title is now in which party?

(A) The developer.
(B) The friend.
(C) The daughter.
(D) The museum.

Subject: 

Legal Issue: 

Legal Rule and Analysis: 

Choose an answer choice that most closely matches your conclusion and explain why the others are incorrect:  

Answer to the Real Property MBE Question

Subject: Real Property

Legal Issue: Who owns the land?

Legal Rule and Analysis: The first step when you come across a problem like this is to identify the grant given. A fee simple determinable is created by the following phrases: “for so long as” (or just “so long as”), “until”, “while”, and “during”). You can remember the mnemonic FUWD (or SUWD). If you see one of these FUWD words on the MBE, then the grantee has a fee simple determinable and the grantor has a possibility of reverter.

A fee simple determinable is durational – that Is, it is measured by time. (Note: all the FUWD words are durational in nature!) After the time ends, the estate will automatically revert back to the grantor.

In this case, a fee simple determinable was granted to the church. The possibility of reverter was left in the owner. However, the owner devised it away to his friend. A possibility of reverter is descendible (i.e., the daughter could have inherited it if the owner had not written the will) and devisable (i.e., the friend can properly be given the interest under the will).  In this case, since the owner had a will, the will controls. So, now the friend has the possibility of reverter that belonged to the owner. The minute the museum sold its estate to the developer, the interest reverted to the friend.

Conclusion: (B) is correct.

Look at the answer choices provided. Choose an answer choice that matches your conclusion. Review the other answer choices provided.  (A) is incorrect because the land automatically reverted to the friend as soon as the museum closed its doors. (C) is incorrect because while the daughter would have ordinarily received the property as an heir, here, the landowner specifically bequested it to his friend. A will trumps any laws of intestate succession. (D) is incorrect because as soon as the museum closed its doors, its interest automatically terminated. That is the effect of having a fee simple determinable.

MBE Tip: Learn the highly-tested MBE topics. You can see that Real Property is divided very evenly. So if you struggle with present and future interests, that is okay — there will only be a few MBE questions on this topic! (However, if you struggle with something like hearsay or negligence, it is important to make sure you understand it thoroughly as those topics are highly tested on the MBE!)

 

Key Takeaways and MBE tips for the day:

Takeaway for the Law:  A fee simple determinable is created by the following phrases: “for so long as” (or just “so long as”), “until”, “while”, and “during”).  Remember the mnemonic FUWD. If you see one of these words, then the grantee has a fee simple determinable and the grantor has a possibility of reverter.

A fee simple determinable is durational – that Is, it is measured by time. (Note: all the FUWD words are durational in nature!) After the time ends, the estate will automatically revert back to the grantor.

MBE Tip: Learn the highly-tested MBE topics. You can see that Real Property is divided very evenly. So if you struggle with present and future interests, that is okay — there will only be a few MBE questions on this topic! (However, if you struggle with something like hearsay or negligence, it is important to make sure you understand it thoroughly as those topics are highly tested on the MBE!)

 

Want to See Past MBE Tip of the Day Posts? 

If you would like to see “MBE tip of the day” posts from prior days, please check out all of our past MBE tip of the day archives here! We have several of them and we list them by subject!

Looking for additional MBE help? 

If you are looking for MBE help, read our 10 expert MBE tips here. Check out our step-by-step guide to improving your MBE score, please review this post for an overview of tips. If you would like to have the next MBE tip emailed to you when we come out with another one, please fill out the form below.

MBE Tip of the Day

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