Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Life Use

Your interest in your grandmother's house only comes into being upon the termination of the nephew's life estate. This can occur because of his death or his breach of the terms of your grandmother's will.

Re: Life Use

You cannot sell the house unless you buy the life interest of the deceased's nephew. If you want to sell the house early you can try to make him offer to purchase.

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Re: Life Use

The two prior answers by Arnold Nager and Stephen Loeb are correct.

Re: Life Use

You are restricted in what you can do under the terms of the Will. It appears your only options are to buy out your nephew's life estate (there are IRS tables converting the life estate to a percentage of ownership so you can evaluate it), sell to a third party subject to the life estate (which will reduce the sales price), have your nephew buy out your remainder interest, or just hang on until he decides to vacate or abandon his occupancy. You should pay particular attention to verify that all required bills are paid, with particular concerns about maintenance and repairs. If these terms were not defined in the Will, there could be problems down the road over what repairs and maintenance are required to be paid by your nephew (e.g., major problems like a new roof, painting, boiler, etc.)

Re: Life Use

My condolences on your loss, but congratulations on your inheritance. Unfortunately, the law is clear on this point. If the will says he has a 'life estate', then you may only sell the house with his rights continuing. This may make it tough to sell.

On the other hand, I have two (2) suggestions: (1) watch his up-keep of the house closely. If he does not keep it in good shape or is destructive of the interior or exterior, then his interest can be extinguished (you get the house free and clear). And (2) there is something called a "reverse mortgage" which seems tailor-made for your situation. You sell the house to a property mangement company, collect some money and they get the house when your cousin's life estate is over.

It could work out well for you. It would get you out of your cousin's life!

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