What is the difference between a fee simple estate and a life estate?

• A. Fee simple is unlimited duration with full ownership rights; a life estate lasts for a specific person's life with reversion or remainder.
• B. Fee simple lasts for the life of a person; a life estate lasts forever.
• C. Fee simple requires reversion to grantor; life estate transfers to heirs automatically.
• D. Fee simple can't be transferred; life estate cannot be sold.

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is ownership duration and what happens after that duration ends. A fee simple estate is the most complete form of ownership, with no time limit and all rights of ownership—use, sell, lease, mortgage, and pass to heirs. There’s no expiration tied to anyone’s life.

A life estate, on the other hand, lasts only for the life of a specific person (the measuring life). The person who holds it (the life tenant) can use and enjoy the property, but when that life ends, the ownership doesn’t stay with the life tenant. Instead, the property goes to a designated person or reverts back to the grantor (the remainder or the reversion). This distinction is what sets the two apart: unlimited duration and full ownership versus ownership limited to a person’s life with a future interest determined for after that life.

So the best answer captures that difference: fee simple is unlimited duration with full ownership rights; a life estate lasts for a specific person's life with reversion or remainder.