Doctrine of worthier title - sustany/dvg GitHub Wiki

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.�