Wait-and-See Principle Law and Legal Definition
Wait and see principle is a modification to the rule against perpetuities, under which a gift, which would be void under the certainty-of-vesting requirement of the common-law rule against perpetuities, may be validated by the occurrence of events which happen within the prescribed period. The rule against perpetuities means that no future interest in property can lawfully be created which does not necessarily vest within twenty-one years after some life or lives presently in being, excluding from such computation of years the incipient life of infants, in the womb of the mother.
Wait and see principle is also known as second look doctrine.
Under the "wait and see" principle the courts "wait and see" to determine whether the contingency happens within the period of the rule. A judicial decision is simply postponed until all possible valid contingencies and possibilities for vesting have occurred. [In re Estate of Freeman, 195 Kan. 190, 198 (Kan. 1965)]
