life estate
Quick Summary
A life estate is a type of temporal division of ownership in Anglo-American law. It grants a person, the life tenant, the right to possess and use a property for their natural life. While the life tenant can use the property, they are restricted from diminishing its capital value, a concept known as committing waste. The life tenant can transfer their interest, but the recipient only receives an estate limited by the original life tenant's life.1
Upon the death of the life tenant, the right to possession passes to a remainderman, who has an interest in fee and whose interest will pass to their heirs if they die before the life tenant. If the original owner retains the rest of the property after granting a life estate, this retained interest is called a reversion. Common law dower and curtesy are examples of life estates.1
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