can someone with life estate in a home throw the owner out?

[juanquapha]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

Topic is the question, the details are as follows.

about 6 years ago i was deeded a home with Quitclaim covenants, and the original owner being granted a life estate in the home.

Recently I have come into a huge issue in the place i was living and needed to move, there is plenty of space for all of us to live in my home but it is still occupied by the person with the life estate, but now after having moved in and made several repairs to the home (two of the roofs were badly leaking and causing major damages to the home, costing me about 2k) they are seeking to have me removed from my own home! I know that under life estate I cant sell the house out from under them or throw them out (save some weird reasons im sure) Is this ok? can I now after spending all of the moving money i had and fixing the house to live here be thrown out??

 

[tranquility]

about 6 years ago i was deeded a home with Quitclaim covenants, and the original owner being granted a life estate in the home.

It depends on what you mean by being granted a "life estate". By common use, a life estate is possession of a property for some measuring life. However, technically, there is no reason to limit possession to one person.

If a standard life estate, the holder has possession and can evict or have arrested (depending on the facts) others, including the "owner" of the remainder interest.

If not, I'd have to see the exact wording of the grant. (Even then, if it's poorly worded the answer may be technical and require an attorney and research.)

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

Topic is the question, the details are as follows.

about 6 years ago i was deeded a home with Quitclaim covenants, and the original owner being granted a life estate in the home.

Recently I have come into a huge issue in the place i was living and needed to move, there is plenty of space for all of us to live in my home but it is still occupied by the person with the life estate, but now after having moved in and made several repairs to the home (two of the roofs were badly leaking and causing major damages to the home, costing me about 2k) they are seeking to have me removed from my own home! I know that under life estate I cant sell the house out from under them or throw them out (save some weird reasons im sure) Is this ok? can I now after spending all of the moving money i had and fixing the house to live here be thrown out??

Yes, technically you can be. Someone with a life estate is entitled to exclusive use of the home for their lifetime...unless the life estate is written up in a non-standard way.

 

[LillianX]

Unless it's a non-standard life-estate, the estate holder has exclusive rights to the property for life. You can absolutely be evicted.

 

[justalayman]

but you may have a claim for the money you spend on the roof. In a typical life estate, the life tenant is required to maintain the home. If the roof was in such disrepair that you had to repair it, the tenant most likely owes you money.

Beyond that, if they continue to fail to repair the home, you would eventually be able to terminate the tenancy due to the wasting of the home.

 

[nextwife]

Poster, you are clearly confusing Ownership with Right of Possession. While one may own a property, that does NOT automatically mean that another may not have right of possession. There are even declaratiions commonly signed by sellers at closing in which the seller asserts whether there are any other Parties in Possession specifically because transferring ownership is not necessarilly the same as transferring right of possession.

I agree that in most cases, a life estate is meant to convey the sole right of possession, UNLESS otherwise stated.