> Both parties have to be legal people. A corporation is a legal person, but a 15 year old of flesh and blood usually is not. The conveyance fails. The conveyance can never be revived, but the property may make its way to the intended party by other means at a later date. Generally speaking of course.
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> On a related note, usually that deed to a minor (or anyone else in the family) that grandpa put in the safe for transfer at a later date, fails. Generally has to be a present intent to transfer (not an idea that it might at some point in the future). Present offer, acceptance, legal people, consideration, description, etc..
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> Yikes, lots of ways for failure of conveyance. It's an interesting subject and the court cases related are a bunch of fun to read. It's truly amazing the position people get themselves into sometimes (even with attorney advice).
So Mr. Frymire,
It is your opinion that if I convey a parcel to my 3 year old niece and later I pass away without mentioning that parcel in my will, that the parcel remains a part of my estate?
Is this true even if there is no problem or controversy within the family as to who owns the land some 30 or 40 years after the original supposed conveyance?
If no one contests the conveyance while she is a minor, does that change anything?
Some interesting questions here to be sure.
Larry P
The minor is not legally responsible to acquire or to sell real estate. That is why legal manuevers must be followed to appoint a guardian or similar title to an adult to act on behalf of the minor. For example, how would a tax foreclosure process work when the offending party is an unrepresented minor? What if the minor is only one day old on the day the deed is made and filed? What if the so-called child hasn't even been born yet???????
Try to open a bank account for a minor without an adult also being listed on the account.
This morning, in a hurry and shooting from the hip, I wrote "an instrument...must be acknowledged by the grantee, and I'm not sure a minor can legally acknowledge." What I meant to write was that a deed must be accepted by the grantee. Creteau's Maine Real Estate Law, discussing "acceptance," says "...a grantor may not thrust his land upon an unwilling grantee; the grantee must expressly or impliedly accept the deed." Now Creteau goes on to say that "acceptance is presumed when the deed is beneficial to the grantee. Thus, for all practical purposes, the requirement of acceptance has very little legal significance." But I do wonder whether a 3-year-old can meaningfully "accept" such a thing.
Yes. The better way probably is to convey to yourself a life interest with parcel going to 3 year old on two conditions subsequent. First your death, second their reaching age of maturity.
On related note, some have mentioned notary. Generally an acknowledgement is not needed for a valid conveyance. It is usually (but not always) needed in order to file in the public record and get the protection of the recording statutes. If there is a tie in the race to the clerks office, then an acknowledgment date may win in the recording statute protection scheme.