“Most treatise-writers define the possibility of reverter as the interest a transferor keeps when he transfers a fee simple determinable or a fee simple conditional. See, e.g., 1 American Law of Property § 4.12; Simes & Smith § 281. Although this definition is all right as far as it goes, it fails to provide for interests less than the fee simple that are granted on special limitation…. Although we call the possibility of reverter an ‘estate,’ the courts of an earlier era would probably have called it a ‘possibility of becoming an estate.’ ” Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in Land and Future Interests 58 n.5 (2d ed. 1984).
possibility of reverter
possibility of reverter. A reversionary interest that is subject to a condition precedent; specif., a future interest retained by a grantor after conveying a fee simple determinable, so that the grantee’s estate terminates automatically and reverts to the grantor if the terminating event ever occurs. • In this type of interest, the grantor transfers an estate whose maximum potential duration equals that of the grantor’s own estate and attaches a special limitation that operates in the grantor’s favor. — Often shortened to reverter. See fee simple determinable under FEE SIMPLE. Cf. REMAINDER(1); REVERSION.
