Real Estate Investing Information Blog

A life estate, at general law is an estate in real property that ends at death. Although it is technically a tenancy, it is treated the similar as a fee simple with respect to the constraints upon its use for the period of the estate.

Since it ends at death, and the proprietor of the life estate cannot leave it to his heirs or express a larger interest in the land than what the owner really owns, a life estate is not an estate of inheritance. Life estates are calculated either by the life of the owner of the estate, or by the life of a number of other person; these later are called life estates pur autre vie, Law French for "during somebody else's life."

A life estate pur autre compete is most commonly created in one of two circumstances.

First, when the owner of property conveys his attention in that property to another person, for the existence of a third person. For illustration if Joey conveys Black acre to Rachel during the life of Monica, then Rachel owns the ground for as long as Monica lives; if Rachel dies before Monica, Rachel's heirs will be left the land, and will persist to own it for as long as Monica lives.

Second, if Joey conveys Black acre to Monica for life, Monica can then vend the life estate to Rachel. Again, Rachel and Rachel's heirs will possess the land for as long as Monica lives. In each scenario, once Monica dies, the possession of the land will relapse to Joey. If Joey has died, rights will revert to Joey's heirs. The correct to succeed to ownership of the property upon the expiration of the life estate is called a remainder.

The early general law did not recognize a life estate in personal property, but such interests were cognizable in impartiality. Thus, though life estates in real estate are still formed today, the life estate is further commonly used in trust instruments, usually in an attempt to minimize the effect of the inheritance tax or extra taxes on transfers of wealth.

The law of England and Wales no longer recognizes the life estate at law in relation to land, instead the owner of legal title to the land will hold that land on hope first for the life tenant and then for the remainder man.