Reverter, Possibility of

A contingent future interest in real property that a grantor of a determinable fee possesses after he or she has conveyed property.

The possibility of reverter arises when the grantor of real property has conveyed land subject to the possibility that the estate will return to her or to her heirs if a certain specified limitation occurs. For example, if A, owner of Blackacre in fee simple, makes the conveyance, "To B and B's heirs as long as the land is used for church purposes," then A has a possibility of reverter. A is entitled to the return of the land if B and B's heirs do not use the land for the designated purpose.