Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: life estate

The right to the reversion is your husband's separate property (assuming his interest was acquired prior to your marriage) and unless a community interest arises (by gift, commingling of assets, etc., all of which is somewhat unlikely) the right to the reversion will pass to his heirs if he has a will, under the terms of his living trust if he placed these assets into a trust, or by the rules of intestate succession if he has no will and the reversions weren't in a trust.

In the case of a will or trust, the terms can give it all to you, or give you nothing, or anything in between.

If your husband has no will or trust, as a surviving spouse you would receive a share according to Probate Code section 6401(c) which could be 100%, 1/2 or 1/3 depending upon how many other close-relative heirs he has.

You might also want to look at the isntruments that created the life estates in the first place, to see whether the reversion goes to the estate of the reversioner or remainderman (your husband) under all circumstances. Occasionally there are provisions that the remainderman must survive the life tenant, or that the life estate is measured by the life of someone other than the tenant. If there is no contrary provision, the reversions would become part of your husband's estate upon his death, as stated above.

All in all, you and your husband probably should do some estate planning with the help of a lawyer who specializes in this field, so that whatever happens, your property will pass as desired, and with minimum tax and probate costs.