Cindy544 said:
The house in question is in the state of Maine. My sister lives in it 6 months of the year. The other six she lives in Florida. She has had her son there for six months and he is still there while she is living in Florida. I think it reads that she can have any one living there. Is there a way I can change the wording ??
Well, you can't change anything, because you have no interest in the house anymore -- once you gave the house to your daughters, they own the house, not you, and you have no authority to do anything with the house.
Further, your daughters may not change the extent of the life estate without approval from the life tenant. It's sort of like a lease or other contract -- you can't simply make unilateral changes to the lease or contract before the expiration of the lease or contract. If you want to make any changes, the tenant has to agree with the changes.
When you grant a life estate, the life tenant gains a "possessory" interest in the land -- like any other tenant, she can use the property how she wishes, including renting out or leasing her interest in the land, or even selling her interest in the land. Of course, the lease, rental or sale is only good for as long as the original life tenant -- your sister -- is still alive. The only restrictions on the life tenant's use of the property are either those given in the grant -- which are probably no restrictions in this case -- and the restriction that the life tenant may not cause "waste" to the property -- in other words, the life tenant may not do things that cause the value of the property to decline, like fail to maintain improvements, or mine or log the property, etc.
In other words, your sister can have whomever she wants living in the house, right up until the day she dies. If you want to change that, your daughters will need her permission to do so.
