Property Law Keyed to Dukeminier
Mahrenholz v. County Board of School Trustees
ProfessorTodd Berman
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Land was deeded to the Trustees of School District No. I, predecessors to the Defendants in this case, the County Board of School Trustees (Defendants), in this case, providing the land was to be used for school purposes only. Otherwise the land was to revert back to the Grantors. Later, the original grantors of the land attempted to convey their reversionary interest in this land to the Jacqmains. The Jacqmains later conveyed this reversionary interest to the Plaintiffs in this case, Herbert L. Mahrenholz and Betty Mahrenholz (Plaintiffs). Hutton, the son of the original grantors of the land later conveyed all of his interest in the land deeded to the school to the Plaintiffs. Prior to this conveyance to the Plaintiffs, Hutton had relinquished all of his rights of reverter or rights of re-entry to the Defendants. The Plaintiffs brought suit to quiet title. The trial court found that the Plaintiff could not have acquired a reversionary interest in the land from the Jacqmains o r Hutton. The trial court found that the original deed language conveyed a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent followed by a right of re-entry for condition broken, rather than a determinable fee followed by a possibility of reverter. The appeals court determined that the Plaintiffs could not have acquired an future interest from the Jacqmains, as neither interest may be transferred by will or by inter vivos conveyance. The appeals court stated the only possible manner in which the Plaintiffs could have acquired an interest in the land from Hutton was if he had a possibility of reverter in the land and thus owned the school property when it ceased to be used for school purposes.
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