In MA, does a Life Estate/Tenancy terminate when the person who has the estate voluntarily moves out?

Question

My father sold me his house and retained a life estate, he then moved out of his own accord. Is the Life Estate still binding, does he still have legal right to the house, my name is on the deed. If he does, he is now 85 yrs old., how do I figure the amount to "buy him out" and get clear title to the home? There is other family involved and he is being "led". I do not want to harm him in any way but want to divorce from the family. Any help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

If the deed in question has him in title as holding a life estate/tenancy, no. The only thing that extinguishes the life estate is a death certificate or a deed that relinquishes the life estate; thus buying him out will work if he is leagally competent.

Answer 2

The best way to resolve this is to have him deed his life estate to you. With the merger of the life estate and remainder in you, you would have title in fee simple. This would enable you to mortgage the property or sell it and give free and clear title some time in the future, regardless of whether your father is alive or not.

I realize that this is a tricky family situation, but I can tell you that a life estate for a man of 85 years has little or no value. There are ways to value a life estate and remainder which are used by tax attorneys or certified public accountants when complicated federal estate tax returns are filed. These are based on annuity tables, but information about them is readily available.

If family pressures force you to actually "buy out" your father, it is best that it be seen by everybody as an "arm's length" transaction with both your father and you being represented by legal counsel. It will be up to the experts to determine the fair value by running the numbers.

Answer 3

Without actually seeing the document creating the life estate, I can only make an educated guess. However, I looked at the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 184, Section 10, which states: No expectant estate shall be defeated or barred by an alienation or other act of the owner of the precedent estate, nor by the destruction of such precedent estate by disseisin, forfeiture, surrender or merger. YOU hold the "expectant estate." This statute provides in part that your expectant estate cannot be alienated or barred by certain acts of the owner of the "precedent estate" (which would be your father), and that among these enumerated acts is both "forfeiture" and "surrender." This suggests to me that the life estate can, indeed, be terminated by abandonment. However, you would need court proceedings to clear the title. As far as computing a figure to purchase his life estate, that would be up to the two of you. You could compute a price based on the cost of housing for him for the expected remainder of his life. However, he voluntarily abandoned the estate. Further, the life tenant is responsible for paying taxes on the property. Is he paying the taxes? If not, you are entitled to credit for the taxes you pay on the property on his behalf.