What Is a Life Estate Pur Autre Vie?
Pur autre vie (say it “per oh-truh vee”) is one of those old legal phrases that still shows up in real deeds and on the real estate exam. The idea is simple once you see it: you get to use a property for as long as someone else is alive. Not you. Someone else.
Life Estate Pur Autre Vie: Pur autre vie is Law French for “for the life of another.” A life estate pur autre vie gives someone the right to use a property for as long as a different person, called the measuring life, is alive. When the measuring life dies, the estate ends and the property goes to the remainderman or back to the grantor.
The People in Every Pur Autre Vie
A regular life estate lasts for the holder’s own life. A pur autre vie splits that in two. The person who holds the estate and the person whose life sets the clock are different people.
Grantor: the owner who creates the life estate
Life tenant: the person who gets to live in, use, or rent out the property
Measuring life: the person whose lifetime decides how long it lasts (the old term is “cestui que vie”)
Remainderman: whoever gets the property when the measuring life dies. If nobody is named, it goes back to the grantor as a reversion.
How a Life Estate Pur Autre Vie Gets Created
There are two common ways.
1. Someone grants it directly. A deed or will says something like “to Ann for the life of Bob, then to Carla.” Ann holds it. Bob’s life is the clock. Carla gets the property when Bob dies.
2. A life tenant transfers their own life estate. A life tenant can sell or lease their interest, but only what they have. If Ruth has a life estate measured by her own life and sells it to Tom, Tom now holds it for Ruth’s life. That’s a pur autre vie.
A Real-World Example With Numbers
Picture this… Ruth, 78, has a life estate in her house. Her daughter holds the remainder. Ruth moves into assisted living and sells her life estate to her neighbor’s son, Tom, for $60,000.
Tom can live there until Ruth dies. If Ruth lives 9 more years, Tom gets 9 years. If she passes in 18 months, Tom gets 18 months. What he paid doesn’t change that.
Say living there saves Tom $1,400 a month in rent. He needs about 43 months, a little over 3.5 years, just to break even on the $60,000. Whether that’s a good bet depends entirely on someone else’s health. Yikes. That’s why these interests are hard to sell and even harder to borrow against.
What If the Life Tenant Dies First?
This is where pur autre vie is different from a regular life estate. In a regular life estate, the estate ends when the life tenant dies. In a pur autre vie, it only ends when the measuring life dies.
So if Tom dies first, his interest doesn’t vanish. It passes to his heirs or whoever he names in his will, and they hold it until Ruth dies.
Ordinary life estate | Life estate pur autre vie | |
|---|---|---|
Whose life sets the length | The life tenant’s | Someone else’s (the measuring life) |
When it ends | When the life tenant dies | When the measuring life dies |
If the life tenant dies first | Not possible, it ends with them | Passes to the life tenant’s heirs until the measuring life dies |
What the Life Tenant Has to Do
Holding a life estate isn’t free living. Under the general rules most states follow, the life tenant:
Pays the property taxes
Pays the interest on any mortgage (the remainderman usually covers principal)
Can’t commit waste, meaning they can’t damage the property or let it fall apart at the remainderman’s expense
Insurance isn’t always a legal duty, but skipping it is a bad idea. Plenty of deeds spell it out. Read yours.
Why People Use It
Most pur autre vie estates aren’t planned on purpose. They happen when a life tenant sells or leases their interest, like Ruth did. When they are planned, it’s usually family: letting a caregiver stay in a home for as long as the person they care for is alive, for example.
Either way, the wording has to be exact. A deed that’s fuzzy about whose life counts or who gets it after is a lawsuit waiting to happen. If you’re setting one up, use an estate attorney, period.
Pur Autre Vie FAQs
How do you pronounce pur autre vie?
“Per oh-truh vee.” It’s Law French, the old French used in English courts.
What is the difference between a life estate and a life estate pur autre vie?
A regular life estate lasts for the holder’s own life. A life estate pur autre vie lasts for someone else’s life, the measuring life.
Who is the cestui que vie?
The cestui que vie is the measuring life: the person whose lifetime decides how long the estate lasts. They don’t have to own anything.
Can a life tenant sell a life estate pur autre vie?
Yes. They can sell or lease it, but the buyer only gets what the seller had, which ends when the measuring life dies.
Who pays property taxes on a life estate?
Generally the life tenant, since they’re the one with the right to use the property.
Got a deed with life estate language and not sure what it means for a sale? Ask us here. We’ll tell you what we see, and when you need an attorney instead.
