Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Re: Life use of premises

This is the typical case of a badly drawn document where no instructions are set forth. Conflicts usually arise over just what are the responsibilities of each interest, life estate and remainder interest. This conflict is greater where the wife is not the mother. If there are no specific instructions, I suggest treating the life estate like a rental, with the life estate holder being the tenant, responsible for all day-to-day charges (taxes, mortgage, homeowners insurance, utilities and the like, including minor repairs, etc.) and the remaindermen like a landlord, responsible for major repairs and improvements. I suggest you sit down with the wife and work this out, and put everything in writing, including what situations will terminate her life estate, besides her death; e.g., if she cohabited with someone, remarried, decided to move, became incapitated and went into a nursing home, abandoned the property or failed to meet her financial obligations. I fault the attorney who drew the Will for not covering this, aa I provide these specifics in all situations where a life estate is involved.