A life interest (or life rent in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

) is a form of right, usually under a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

, that lasts only for the lifetime of the person benefiting from that right. A person with a life interest is known as a

life tenant In common law and statutory law, a life estate (or life tenancy) is the ownership of immovable property for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms, it is an estate in real property that ends at death when ownership of the property may ...

. A life interest ends when the life tenant dies. An '' interest in possession trust'' is the most common example of a ''life interest trust''. In a typical interest in possession trust, the life tenant receives all the

income Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...

from the

for the rest of his or her life. On the life tenant's

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, the trust comes to an end, and the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of the trust is paid to another person, known as the

remainderman A remainderman is a person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the estate of the former owner. Usually this occurs due to the death or termination of the former owner's life estate, but this can also occur due ...

, as specified by the trust document. One form of life interest is a

life estate In common law and statutory law, a life estate (or life tenancy) is the ownership of immovable property for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms, it is an estate in real property that ends at death when ownership of the property may ...

, an ownership interest in property that lasts for the life of the party to whom it has been granted. Unlike the beneficiary of a trust, the owner of a life estate in property has the right to possession of the property and may use it as any other owner, subject only to a duty to avoid

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

of the property value affecting parties with a

future interest In property law and real estate, a future interest is a legal right to property ownership that does not include the right to present possession or enjoyment of the property. Future interests are created on the formation of a defeasible estate; t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Interest Real property law

See also

References