Title 47, Property

The ownership of property is: 1. Absolute; or 2. Qualified.

The ownership of property is absolute when a single person has the absolute dominion over it and may use it or dispose of it according to that person's pleasure, subject only to general laws.

The ownership of property is qualified: 1. When it is shared with one or more persons; 2. When the time of enjoyment is deferred or limited; or 3. When the use is restricted.

The ownership of property by a single person is designated as a sole or concurrent ownership.

The ownership of property by several persons is either: 1. Of joint interests; 2. Of partnership interests; or 3. Of interests in common.

A joint interest is one owned by several persons in equal shares by a title created by a single will or transfer, when expressly declared in the will or transfer to be a joint tenancy, or when granted or devised to executors or trustees as joint tenants.

A partnership interest is one owned by several persons in partnership for partnership purposes.

An interest in common is one owned by several persons not in joint ownership or partnership. Every interest created in favor of several persons in their own right is an interest in common, unless acquired by them in partnership for partnership purposes, or unless declared in its …

In respect to the time of enjoyment an interest in property is: 1. Present or future; and 2. Perpetual or limited.

A present interest means that the owner is entitled to the immediate possession of the property.

A future interest means that the owner is entitled to the possession of the property only at a future period.

A perpetual interest has a duration equal to that of the property.

A limited interest has a duration less than that of the property.

The delivery of the grant, where a limitation, condition, or future interest is created by grant, and the death of the testator, when it is created by will, is to be deemed the time of the creation of the limitation, condition, or interest within the meaning of the laws of this s…

A future interest is either vested or contingent. It is vested when there is a person in being who would have a right, defeasible or indefeasible, to the immediate possession of the property upon the ceasing of the intermediate or precedent interest. It is contingent while the pe…

Two or more future interests may be created to take effect in the alternative so that if the first in order fails to vest, the next in succession shall be substituted for it and take effect accordingly.

A future interest is not void merely because of the improbability of the contingency on which it is limited to take effect.

Future interests pass by succession, will, and transfer in the same manner as present interests.

When a future interest is limited to successors, heirs, issue, or children, posthumous children are entitled to take in the same manner as if living at the death of their parent.

A mere possibility, such as the expectancy of an heir apparent, is not to be deemed an interest of any kind.

No future interest in property is recognized by the law, except such as is defined in this title.

The time when the enjoyment of property is to begin or end may be determined by computation or made to depend on events. In the latter case, the enjoyment is said to be upon condition.

Conditions are precedent or subsequent. The former fix the beginning, the latter the ending of the right.

If a condition precedent requires the performance of an act wrong in itself, the instrument containing it is so far void, and the right cannot exist. If it requires the performance of an act not wrong of itself, but otherwise unlawful, the instrument takes effect and the conditio…

Conditions imposing restraints upon marriage, except upon the marriage of a minor, or of the widow of the person by whom the condition is imposed, are void. This does not affect limitations when the intent was not to forbid marriage but only to give the use until marriage.

Conditions restraining alienation, when repugnant to the interest created, are void.

1. A contingent property interest is invalid unless: a. When the interest is created, it is certain to vest or terminate no later than twenty-one years after the death of an individual then alive; or b. The interest either vests or terminates within ninety years after its creatio…

1. Except as provided in subsections 2 and 3 of this section and in subsection 1 of section 47-02-27.5, the time of creation of a contingent property interest or a power of appointment is determined under general principles of property law. 2. For purposes of sections 47-02-27.1 …

Upon the petition of an interested person, a court shall reform a disposition in the manner that most closely approximates the transferor's manifested plan of distribution and is within the ninety years allowed under subdivision b of subsection 1 of section 47-02-27.1, subdivisio…

Section 47-02-27.1 does not apply to: 1. A contingent property interest or a power of appointment arising out of a nondonative transfer, except a contingent property interest or a power of appointment arising out of a premarital or postmarital agreement, a separation or divorce s…

1. Except as extended by subsection 2, sections 47-02-27.1 through 47-02-27.5 apply to a contingent property interest or a power of appointment that is created on or after July 1, 1991. For purposes of this section, a contingent property interest or a power of appointment created…

A future interest may be defeated in any manner, or by any act or means, which the party creating such interest provided for or authorized in the creation thereof, nor is a future interest thus liable to be defeated to be adjudged void in its creation on that ground.

A future interest depending on the contingency of the death of any person without successors, heirs, issue, or children is defeated by the birth of a posthumous child of such person capable of taking by succession.

No future interest can be defeated or barred by any alienation or other act of the owner of the intermediate or precedent interest, nor by any destruction of such precedent interest by forfeiture, surrender, merger, or otherwise, except as provided by section 47-02-32, or when a …

No future interest, valid in its creation, is defeated by the determination of the precedent interest before the happening of the contingency on which the future interest is limited to take effect, but should such contingency afterwards happen, the future interest takes effect in…

The owner of a life estate may use the land in the same manner as the owner of a fee simple, except that the owner of a life estate must do no act to the injury of the inheritance.

The owner of a life estate must keep the buildings and fences in repair from ordinary waste and must pay the taxes and other annual charges and a just proportion of extraordinary assessments benefiting the whole inheritance.