Legal terminology hijack: Spanish law distinguishes between propiedad (ownership) and usufructo (the right to use). In a lease, what’s transferred is the right to use but not the ownership; in a life estate, it would be specified that the person in the house maintains the right to use but not the ownership. In both cases it would need to be specified what kind of decisions can each party (owner and user) make. For example and sticking to homes, who decides when to paint and what colors to paint, or whether it is ok to make or to propose structural changes to the house
Is there a legal term in English for this “right to use”? In the situation of leaving a house to someone for their lifetime use, would the paperwork need to specify what happens with regards to maintenance etc?
Ah yes, the classic civil law: usus, fructus and abusus. Property rights are made up of the right to use, the right to take the fruits, and the right to alienate.
We don’t use that division in common law, but you can reach the same result.
A common law life interest is different from the usus you describe. A person who has a life interest is the owner, for the term of their life. There normally can’t be the restrictions you mention, such as painting and maintenance requirements, because those would be restrictions on the life owner’s property rights. Instead, there are built-in legal limits on what the life owner can do, mainly in the concept of “waste” - the life owner can’t misuse the property in a way that renders it useless or less valuable to the remainderman - the person who has the right to the property on the death of the tenant-for-life.
Life interests are complicated and rare. A more likely approach to the issue would be a long-term residential lease, where the parties can craft their relationship with more customization than a life interest provides for. And in many common law jurisdictions, a lease for more than a certain number of years can be registered in a way similar to a property ownership right, to protect the interests of the tenant.
I missed the thread originally, but it sounds like things have worked out for the best.
I assume the trust will be a special needs trust - we have one set up for our son. It’s interesting that these can own a house for the person, but apparently they cannot pay rent on a house or apartment. Weird. In any case, the goal is to allow the person to collect whatever benefits they can from the disability programs.
Hopefully the stipend for your brother will be managed in a similar way to allow him to retain any assistance he may be entitled to.
I don’t know how this worked out, but unfortunately once your mother died, that money became your sister’s - and I strongly doubt your sister could set up her own special needs trust. Your mother would have needed to set up the trust before her death, unless I am wildly mistaken.