Legal Definitions - conditional ownership

Conditional ownership is a type of property ownership where the interested party has to fulfill certain conditions before they can gain absolute ownership of the property. These conditions can be related to the person receiving the property or unrelated, like a specific time period.

• Pam gifts her son Ravi $50,000 in trust if Ravi completes undergrad with a 3.0 GPA.
• Charles deeds the land beside his house to Caroline upon the condition that Caroline build a fence on the property close to his house.
• Kate bequests $100,000 to each of her children upon the condition that they reach the age of 21.

In the first example, Pam gifts her son Ravi $50,000 in trust, but only if he completes his undergraduate degree with a 3.0 GPA. This means that Ravi will only gain absolute ownership of the money if he meets the condition set by his mother.

In the second example, Charles deeds the land beside his house to Caroline, but only if she builds a fence on the property close to his house. This means that Caroline will only gain absolute ownership of the land if she fulfills the condition set by Charles.

In the third example, Kate bequests $100,000 to each of her children, but only if they reach the age of 21. This means that Kate's children will only gain absolute ownership of the money if they meet the condition set by their mother.

These examples illustrate how conditional ownership works. The interested party has to fulfill certain conditions before they can gain absolute ownership of the property. This type of ownership can be used for a variety of reasons, such as incentivizing certain behaviors or ensuring that the property is used in a certain way.