Estates may depend upon condition; that is, their existence may depend on the happening or not happening of some event whereby the estate may be created, enlarged or defeated. A term for years, a freehold or a fee may thus be upon condition. The condition must either be precedent, that is, must happen before the estate can vest or be enlarged;. or must be subsequent, when it will defeat an estate already vested.
Estates may also be divided into estates which are legal and those which are equitable. Estates are termed equitable when the formal ownership is in one person, while the beneficial ownership is in another. In another form of expression it may be said that a trust is created. The na ture of the estate is not affected by this distinc tion. For example, a trust estate may be an estate for life or a fee, and in the latter case is transmissible to heirs as though it were a legal estate.
Estates are divided into estates in possession and estates in expectancy, in regard to the time of enjoyment. An estate in possession is one in which there is a present right of enjoyment. Estates in expectancy are those which give either a vested or contingent right of future enjoyment. Estates are also divided, in regard to the number of owners, into estates in sever alty, in joint tenancy, in common and in co parcenary. An estate in severalty is one which
has only a single owner. An estate in joint tenancy is an estate owned jointly by two or more persons, whose title is created by the same instrument. The right of survivorship is the distinguishing characteristic. When a tenant dies his interest is extinguished, and the estate goes to the survivors. Where an estate is con veyed to two or more persons, at common law, without indicating how it is to be held, it is construed to be in joint tenancy. In most of the United States, however, this rule has been changed by statute, and persons to whom an estate is conveyed or given take as tenants in common, unless they hold as trustees. An estate in common is an estate held in joint possession by two or, more owners at the same time by several and distinct titles. An estate in copar cenary is an estate which several persons hold as one heir, whether male or female. This estate has the three unities of time, title and possession. The interests, however, of the co parceners may be unequal. In the United States this estate is essentially extinguished, and heirs take as tenants in common.