Lifetime Estate

[JustMee]

What is the name of your state? FL, but the property in question is in Mass.

My husband's dad left him the family home up north, but his widow has a lifetime estate. When Dad died, it was expected that the house would be sold to pay for the grandkids' college. His widow has now been in the house so long, the kids are done with school already! My husband would like to be able to "buy out" his stepmother's lifetime estate so he can give something to the kids before he himself dies. Is there a way to calculate the value of something like that? Is there a "statute of limitations" to the length of a lifetime estate? We can't help but think she's lived much longer than Dad thought she would.

If neither of those options are feasible, what's to keep her from selling the house out from under the estate, since we're so far away?

Thanks for any advice. I'd like to be able to reassure my husband that his kids will still get an inheritance from their grandfather.

 

[jkruler]

What is the name of your state? FL, but the property in question is in Mass.

My husband's dad left him the family home up north, but his widow has a lifetime estate. When Dad died, it was expected that the house would be sold to pay for the grandkids' college. His widow has now been in the house so long, the kids are done with school already! My husband would like to be able to "buy out" his stepmother's lifetime estate so he can give something to the kids before he himself dies. Is there a way to calculate the value of something like that? Is there a "statute of limitations" to the length of a lifetime estate? We can't help but think she's lived much longer than Dad thought she would.

If neither of those options are feasible, what's to keep her from selling the house out from under the estate, since we're so far away?

Thanks for any advice. I'd like to be able to reassure my husband that his kids will still get an inheritance from their grandfather.

It does not matter if the widow lived longer than expected, a lifetime estate is just that--ownership for life. As far as "selling the house out from under the estate"--you can only sell what property rights you have, and therefore the only thing she could sell is her own life interest. It is unlikely that anyone would be willing to buy an interest that is based on the life of someone else.
Of course, you could purchase her interest if she agreed.