What a Fee Tail Was (and Why Arizona Eliminated It)
Under English common law, a fee tail was a type of property ownership that restricted inheritance to a direct line of descendants. Property held in fee tail could not be sold, given away, or left to anyone outside the bloodline. It was a tool designed to keep family estates intact across generations.
Arizona, like most American states, abolished this concept. If a deed, gift, or will uses language that would have created a fee tail at common law, Arizona automatically converts it into fee simple ownership.
A devise, gift, grant or other conveyance which creates or transfers an estate which, at common law, would be an estate in fee tail, shall be deemed and have the effect of a conveyance in fee simple.
A.R.S. § 33-224(A)Fee simple is full, unrestricted ownership. The owner can sell the property, leave it to anyone, or use it however they choose. There are no bloodline restrictions.
What This Means for Property Owners Today
If you encounter old deed language that attempts to limit property to "heirs of the body" or uses other fee tail terminology, that language has no restrictive effect in Arizona. The property is treated as if it were transferred with full ownership rights.
A devise, gift, grant or other conveyance made by a person holding an estate under a conveyance which at common law would have given such person an estate in fee tail shall have effect as though such person were holding a fee simple estate.
A.R.S. § 33-224(B)This is good news for property owners. It means you have complete freedom to plan for your property however you see fit. Outdated common law restrictions do not get in the way. Modern estate planning tools like trusts provide far more flexible and effective ways to manage how property passes across generations.