The Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP) is a doctrine of Anglo-American property law that restricts how long the vesting of a contingent future interest in property can be delayed. In its classical formulation, attributed to John Chipman Gray, "No interest is good unless it must vest, if at all, not later than twenty-one years after some life in being at the creation of the interest." If there is any logically possible scenario in which the interest could vest outside that period, the interest is void from the outset.
The Rule emerged from English equity practice in the seventeenth century, with the Duke of Norfolk's Case (1682) typically cited as its origin. It was designed to prevent the "dead hand" of prior owners from controlling property indefinitely through layered contingent gifts, family settlements, and trusts, thereby keeping property alienable and productive.
Key features of the classical Rule:
- It applies primarily to contingent remainders, executory interests, and vested remainders subject to open, as well as to options and rights of first refusal in some jurisdictions.
- It does not apply to interests held by the grantor (reversions, possibilities of reverter, rights of entry) or to most present interests.
- Validity is judged at the moment of creation, based on possibilities rather than actual events — producing notorious traps like the "fertile octogenarian," "unborn widow," and "slothful executor."
Because the Rule's harshness has produced unintended invalidations, many U.S. jurisdictions have reformed it. The Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (USRAP), approved by the Uniform Law Commission in 1986, adopts a 90-year wait-and-see alternative period and has been enacted in roughly half of U.S. states. Several states — including South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware, and Nevada — have abolished or substantially extended the Rule to attract perpetual "dynasty trust" business. England and Wales modernized the Rule through the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 and largely abolished it for new instruments under the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009.
Example
In 2009, the UK Parliament passed the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act, abolishing the Rule Against Perpetuities for most new trusts and replacing it with a fixed 125-year perpetuity period.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the state. Most states retain some version of the Rule, often modified by the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (1986) which adds a 90-year wait-and-see period. A growing minority — including South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware, and Nevada — have abolished or greatly extended it to allow perpetual dynasty trusts.
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