Can we sell half a house which is used for a life estate?
You can sell your share. Who would buy it?
The most likely purchasers will be the owners of the other half of the property. However, they already have use of the house for the rest of their lives.
An outsider would likely not want a 50 percent interest — a miserable number because it does not represent control of the property. Also, the life estate of your aunt and uncle would have to be respected by any new owner, and most property owners want more than $1 per year in rent.
But, do the other life estate holders want to move? If yes, perhaps they would agree to give up their life estate in exchange for the purchase of their interest in the property — their half ownership plus the value of the life estate.
The catch is that a life estate can have substantial value. In one case, a home was donated to a non-profit group in the 1920s with the understanding that the group would maintain the property and that the owner’s then-adult daughter would have a life estate. She died in the 1990s — having lived rent-free on the property for some 70 years.
For specifics, please see a knowledgeable real estate attorney.
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