Doctrine of worthier title is a doctrine in real estate law which creates a presumption that when a grantor conveys a future interest to their own heirs, the grantor actually intended to keep the interest in themselves.
- The doctrine was expounded upon in Estate of Grulke, 546 N.W.2d 626, where the court held that “under the worthier title doctrine, if a devise in a will gives the same estate to the devisee that he or she would take by the laws of intestacy if there were no will, the ultimate beneficiary takes the ‘worthier title’ by descent rather than under the will”.
- Similarly, in Catawba Indian Tribe v. South Carolina, 982 F.2d 1564, the Fourth Circuit held that “under the doctrine of worthier title, a devise to the heirs of the testator is a nullity if the interest limited in their favor is identical to that which such heirs would have taken by descent if there had been no devise to them”.
It must be noted that the doctrine has been abolished by most of the states through acts of legislature or the jurisprudence of the state’s highest court. For example, see § 55.1-113 of Code of Virginia.
[Last updated in October of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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