The fertile octogenarian rule and the unborn widow rule are two concepts from the law of real property commonly used to examine the empirically unreasonable consequences of the rule against perpetuities. The rule holds a gift invalid if it does not vest within 21 years of some life in being (named when the gift is created). Law (a loanword from Old Norse lag), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... Real property is a type of property differentiated from personal property. ... The rule against perpetuities is a rule in property law which prohibits a contingent grant or will from vesting outside a certain period of time. ...

The fertile octogenarian rule presupposes that even an octogenarian - a person in their 80s - can have a child. Therefore, if a man leaves his property to his 85-year old sister, with the condition that upon her death it will pass to all of her children upon their 25th birthday, the gift over (the part that would go to the the sister's children) would be void as a violation of the rule because it is possible that the man might die, and then all of his nieces and nephews could die, and his sister might have another child following his death before dying herself while that child is still an infant. That child would be the only one to survive to the age of 25 - therefore the gift to them would vest more than 21 years after the death of the sister, the life in being named in the gift. An octogenarian is a person in the age group of 80 to 89 years old. ...

Similarly, the unborn widow rule supposes that a person who leaves property "to John for life, and upon John's death, to Henry's wife" does not considering the fact that before John dies, Henry's current wife could die (or divorce Henry), and that Henry's next wife may not be born for 21 years after that. Supposing that Henry was 18 at the time the gift was made, and his wife left him immediately thereafter, he would be 39 when his next wife was born.

Because these rules shows how a reasonable gift can be voided based on so unlikely an outcome, they have generated much criticism among legal scholars, resulting in the abrogation of the RAP doctrine by statute in many jurisdictions. These rules have also long been a target of legal humorists. Indeed, www.fertileoctogenarian.com is the name of a legal humor website. A statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. ... A humorist is an author who specializes in short, humorous articles or essays. ...

External links

• www.fertileoctogenarian.com