## Facts

- Lina A. Ulbright and Frank O. Ulbright executed a 1947 deed conveying land to Logan Mitchell Ulbright “and his bodily heirs.”
- Logan Mitchell Ulbright’s only natural child was Logan M. Ulbright, Jr., later known as Logan Marion Morris.
- In 1950, Marion V. Morris and Ruby N. Morris adopted Logan M. Ulbright, Jr., and changed his name to Logan Marion Morris.
- The parties agreed the 1947 deed created an estate tail and, under § 442.470, Logan Mitchell Ulbright held a life estate and his bodily heir held a contingent remainder in fee.
- After Lina and Frank Ulbright died, their heirs conveyed the property to T.B. and Sara Jane Alspaugh in 1964.
- Logan Mitchell Ulbright died in 1972.
- The Alspaughs conveyed the property to Dorothy A. Ulbright and Ralph C. Ulbright in 1973.
- Morris sued to quiet title, claiming under the 1947 deed; defendants claimed under the 1973 deed.
- The trial court granted summary judgment for defendants; the Supreme Court of Missouri reviewed after intermediate appellate proceedings.

## Issues

1. Whether Morris’s adoption under § 453.090 terminated his status as a “bodily heir” for purposes of taking the fee upon the life tenant’s death.
2. Whether a contingent remainder created by a third-party deed to a grantee “and his bodily heirs” is extinguished by adoption because the statute ends legal relationships between an adopted child and natural parents.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed the summary judgment for defendants.
- The court held Morris’s contingent remainder was not extinguished by adoption.
- Title was quieted in Morris, whose remainder became a fee simple upon the life tenant’s death.

## Legal Principles

- A conveyance creating an estate tail is converted by § 442.470 into a life estate in the first taker and a contingent remainder in fee in the “heirs of the body.”
- The “heirs of the body” take as purchasers under the original grant, not by descent from the life tenant.
- An adoption statute terminating legal relationships and rights between an adopted child and natural parents does not defeat a property interest that derives from third-party grantors rather than from the natural parent.

## Conclusion

Because Morris’s interest arose from the original grantors’ deed as a purchaser of a contingent remainder, his adoption did not extinguish that interest, and he took fee simple title when the life estate ended.


Morris v. Ulbright, 558 S.W.2d 660 (Mo. 1977)