Posted on: 21st Jun, 2010 05:17 am
my mother in law passed away a few years ago. on her deathbed she asked to have a quit claim deed drawn up so that upon the death of her husband, her only son would receive the property. this was important to her because this was property from her family as a child. upon looking at the deed, i noticed that it states he (her husband) has life estate, but the part that worries me states "...with full power and authority in said life tenant to sell, convey, mortgage, lease or otherwise manage and dispose of the property described...with or without considereration, without joinder of remainderman..." does this mean that he can sell the property that she wanted to be sure stayed in her family? my husband says no, because what she had told the lawyer was that she wanted him to have the property and her husband to be able to live in it until death. i say it wasn't written up that way and her husband can "sell" it to his new wife for $1 and then it's gone. any help??
You can only sell the property interest you have. So, the husband can sell the life estate, but that is all he can sell. The new owner would thus only have an estate in the property for the life of the husband.
So he can sell the life estate to his new wife, but once he dies, she has no claim to it, correct? He has told us that she'll live their until she dies no matter what we say, but this sounds like she can live there until he dies. Thanks.
