Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in South Carolina

Re: life estate and a house

You have a remainder interest in the home. As long as the life estate tenant is living you cannot do anything, but the life estate tenant has some responsibility to maintain the property, pay the taxes, and protect it. The problem is that you won't be able to see if that is done until it is too late--until the life estate tenant dies. If it is obvious that it is not being maintained you could probably take legal action against the life tenant, but it would be hard to do anything pro-actively such as getting a court order to make her do certain things in the future. Even if things were not repaired she could always say that her life tenancy is not over and that she plans to make repairs later. This is why it is very nice if the life tenant and remainder interest holder get along with each other and work together. As the remainder interest holder, you could also offer to help share the cost of maintenance and repairs via some type of agreement in order to protect your interest in the property.

Re: life estate and a house

You have a remainder interest in the home. As long as the life estate tenant is living you cannot do anything, but the life estate tenant has some responsibility to maintain the property, pay the taxes, and protect it. The problem is that you won't be able to see if that is done until it is too late--until the life estate tenant dies. If it is obvious that it is not being maintained you could probably take legal action against the life tenant, but it would be hard to do anything pro-actively such as getting a court order to make her do certain things in the future. Even if things were not repaired she could always say that her life tenancy is not over and that she plans to make repairs later. This is why it is very nice if the life tenant and remainder interest holder get along with each other and work together. As the remainder interest holder, you could also offer to help share the cost of maintenance and repairs via some type of agreement in order to protect your interest in the property.