Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey
I own a home in which I am the remainderman. Thru my mother's will, a life estate was left to her Aunt. In the will it stipulates she is responsible for maintance/upkeep, taxes, etc. The back porch is detatching and she refused to repair it. A neighbor caulked the opening. She is now dying & her neice has joint account in which she has been writing checks for $10,000 cash for herself. Meanwhile when the Aunt passes I'm left with the damage to my house in which I want to sell. I don' t want the property. How can I get the repairs done? Who can I sue? The estate I don't think has much left. Is is possible to sue the neice being she has been taking money? I need to know because the life-estate tenant has hospice and can pass at any time.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Now that is a terrible situation. You will make a reasonable enough request to the neice that she repair the house, and she will say that you are trying to take money from a dying old lady. Wonderful. What you are saying is correct, she has a duty to not wreck the house that you have a remainder interest in. You may be wise to have a lawyer like me write a demand letter and push them to get the repairs done. And looting your Aunt's money is wrong, clearly. I have fought battles like that too, and people do some rotten things to their older relatives.
Give me a call, make an appointment to come see me, and let's get moving on this for you.
Robert Davies, Esq. 201-820-3460
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