Full question:
If you have a ' life estate' left to one brother on property left to you and your brother does the brother with the life estate havae the right to rent the property instead of living on the property the property is in Ohio but I live in NC
- Category: Real Property
- Subcategory: Joint Tenants
- Date:
- State: North Carolina
Answer:
The life tenant can rent the property in order to enjoy income from it. He can live on the property, or build and improve upon it. He can also sell the property, however, the term of the life estate is measured by the life of the person who was granted the original interest. This is true even if he rents the property to another person or conveys his interest in the property to someone else.
A life tenant can sell or mortgage his or her life interest, but the interest sold or mortgaged is limited to the lifetime of the seller or mortgagee. Although the life tenant can sell the life estate, the buyer would have ownership rights only as long as the original life tenant lived. Therefore, a life estate cannot be transferred by a will. Because a life estate ceases to exist at the death of the measuring person's life, this temporary ownership agreement cannot be left to heirs (intestate)or devisees (testate), and the life estate cannot normally be inherited. At death, the property involved in a life estate typically falls into the ownership of the remainderman named in the life estate agreement.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
