A complicated rule intended to prevent property from being frozen in a trust beyond a certain period of years. If a trust violates the rule against perpetuities it is void. The perpetuities clause in wills and trusts provides that the trusts contained in them terminate automatically at the required time.
Rule that prohibits the control of estates from the grave; provides a cap on use restrictions on contingent remainders and executory interests.
A rule of common law that makes void any estate or interest in property so limited that it will not take effect or vest within a period measured by a life or lives in being at the time of the creation of the estate plus 21 years and the period of gestation. In many states the rule has been modified by statute. Sometimes it is known as the rule against remoteness of vesting.
A rule of law limiting the duration of a trust or other gift of an unvested property interest. Some trusts can go on in perpetuity (forever), but most types of trusts have a maximum duration or life established by law.
A medieval English rule that required that any interest must vest, if at all, within 21 years plus lives in being at the time of creation of the interest.
A complex set of laws designed to prevent excessive restrictions on the transferability of property. The rule holds that "no interest is good unless it must vest, if at all, not later than 21 years after some life in being at the creation of the interest." Back to the Top
See, Perpetuities, rule against.
A common-law principle that prevents a person from reaching out from the grave to control his assets forever. A trust interest must vest not more than "twenty-one years plus a life in being." (Check out the movie Body Heat, in which William Hurt's character is tripped up by the rule.) In recent years, some states have, by statute, enacted laws enabling people to set up their estates so as to opt out of the rule.
A complicated rule, which many lawyers do not fully understand. The purpose is to keep a family's wealth from being frozen in a trust beyond a certain period of years.
An exceedingly complex legal doctrine that limits the amount of time that property can be controlled after death by a person's instructions in a will. For example, a person would not be allowed to leave property to her husband for his life, then to her children for their lives, then to her grandchildren. The gift would potentially go to the grandchildren at a point too remote in time.
The rule against perpetuities is a rule in property law which prohibits a contingent grant or will from vesting outside a certain period of time. If there is a possibility of the estate vesting outside of the period, regardless of how remote, the whole interest is void, and is stricken from a grant. The rule is concerned with the utility of property and tries to prevent people from tying up assets for too long a period of time—a concept often referred to as control by the "dead hand" or "mortmain."
