How to use a life estate to protect your rights to live in a property...

When you have a life estate in a piece of property (most commonly, a house and the contents within it), you enjoy almost the same rights in that property as would an "absolute" owner - but only for the rest of your life.

Here is an typical example of how one wors, the "subsequent marriage" situation:

Assume that a your meet a widow/er who owns a home and you wish to remarry. It is decided that you will sell your house, and the live in the your new spouse's home. Your new spouse wants to ensure that their children, not your children or family, ultimately inherit their property. However they also want to be sure that your will still have a place to live, if they die before you. So the you both agree that the whoever is left will have a "life estate" in the house.

You can live there until you die,hence the name, then the property goes to your new spouses children (or to whomever they specifies). As a "life tenant," you could do pretty much as he pleased with the house, but would be responsible for maintaining the property in good condition. But you could not sell it.

It can be created in a property deed, a will, a trust, or a pre-nuptial agreement. The best choice depends on the individual situation. But the devil is in the details, and this general explanation leaves many unanswered questions.

So if you have a life estate and want to know your rights, or - especially - if you want to give somebody a share in property you own, please see a lawyer.

There is obviously a lot at stake in seeing that this life estate works as planned, and it is very easy to foul things up badly trying to "do-it-yourself."

Here are the list of different wills.

Also have a look at the pages on Trusts

Here are the list of different trusts.

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