What the different between equitable fee simple and legal fee simple?

Answer 1

Fee simple usually means you have a deed reciting full ownership of the appurtenant rights in the property. Equitable title means you only have a contract right to sue for specific performance (in equity) to obtain the property deed. In other words, fee simple is the deed, and equitable title is the right to obtain the deed in court.

Other Perspectives:

If the town takes your property for failure to pay your property taxes you have an equitable interest until your rights of redemption have been barred by a court decree. If you pay your delinquent taxes before a decree is entered your fee ownership will be restored.

Suppose your mother died owning a home and you are her only heir. She left the property to you by her will. Until her will is probated you only have an equitable interest in the property and not a fee simple interest. In order for you to acquire legal title, a fee simple, her estate must be probated.

Answer 2

The most common example is land owned by a trust. The trustee has legal title to the property. Only the trustee can convey the property by a valid deed. The beneficiaries of the trust have an equitable interest in the property but cannot sell it. A deed from the beneficiaries wouldn't be a valid deed and would not be acceptable to a buyer. They would be entitled to profits from the property or to the proceeds from its sale.