Future Interests

The topic of future interests is not a topic that most students enjoy. They didn't like it in law school, and having to study it for the bar exam reminds them about why they didn't like in law school.

But one thing that will clear up quite a lot of the angles tested on this topic is to remember that possession and ownership are two very different things. If x has a life estate and y has the remainder, x has both a possessory interest in that life estate (because x can possess it now, until x dies), and an ownership interest. Y doesn't have a possessory interest, because y needs to wait for x to die before y can possess. But y does have an ownership interest. Y owns the remainder. 

Simplest way to say this: you can own something even if you can't possess it. And it's that ownership interest that plays into so many of these questions. When y tries to convey that interest during y's life, or devise that interest by will, or etc., it's temping to think y can't do that because it's not y's property till x dies. But it is y's property. Y owns it, but cannot, for now, possess it. Separate the concepts of ownership from possession and you're on your way to better understanding this topic.