Also known as: life estates · life tenancy · estate for life
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An estate in land whose duration is measured by the life of one or more designated persons and that ends automatically upon the death of the measuring life or lives.
Leonard Lowe conveyed Blackacre to Layla Lane for life with a remainder limited to her issue. Layla occupied the land and collected rents for several years. Upon her death the property passed directly to her surviving children under the terms of the conveyance.
Luke Latham died owning the family home in which his surviving spouse Lena Lawson held a constitutional homestead right equivalent to a life estate. The personal representative charged the value of that homestead interest against Lena's statutory homestead allowance. The court reduced her allowance by the homestead value to prevent double recovery.
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Isaac Boggs received pension benefits that his first wife Dorothy had devised in part as a life estate to him with remainder to their sons. After Isaac remarried, his second wife Sandra claimed community property rights in the benefits. The Court held that the sons' remainder interest created by the life estate devise was not preempted by federal pension law.
An Indian landowner conveyed fractional interests in allotted land while reserving a life estate for himself. Upon his death the heirs sought to invalidate the conveyance under federal restrictions. The Supreme Court recognized the validity of the reserved life estate and the remainder that followed it.
Victor Gruen executed a letter conveying a valuable painting to his son while expressly reserving a life estate for himself. The son never took physical possession during his father's lifetime. After the father's death the court upheld the gift and confirmed that the son's remainder interest had vested subject to the reserved life estate.
A housekeeper provided years of unpaid service to an elderly landowner in reliance on his oral promise to give her a life estate in his home. No writing satisfied the statute of frauds. The court denied specific performance and limited her recovery to the reasonable value of her services.
The estate continues until the death of the last surviving measuring life named in the instrument. When more than two lives are designated the remainder takes effect upon the death of the first two named lives.
A life tenant must avoid affirmative waste by not extracting resources beyond the open-mine doctrine and must prevent permissive waste by making reasonable repairs. The tenant may not commit ameliorative waste that substantially changes the character of the property without consent.
A life tenant may freely convey or mortgage the life estate, but the transferee receives only an interest measured by the original measuring life. The conveyance does not extend the estate beyond that life.
A constitutional homestead right that is only a terminable life estate may be charged against the statutory homestead allowance when the family home forms part of the decedent's estate.
…that he has never had possession of the painting but asserts that his father made a valid gift of the title in 1963 reserving a life estate for himself. His father retained possession of the painting until he died in 1980. Defendant, plaintiff’s stepmother, has the painting now and has refused plaintiff’s requests that she turn…