Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

I own a home in which I am the remainderman. Thru my mother's will, a life estate was left to her Aunt. In the will it stipulates she is responsible for maintance/upkeep, taxes, etc. The back porch is detatching and she refused to repair it. A neighbor caulked the opening. She is now dying & her neice has joint account in which she has been writing checks for $10,000 cash for herself. Meanwhile when the Aunt passes I'm left with the damage to my house in which I want to sell. I don' t want the property. How can I get the repairs done? Who can I sue? The estate I don't think has much left. Is is possible to sue the neice being she has been taking money? I need to know because the life-estate tenant has hospice and can pass at any time.


Asked on 9/17/10, 3:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert Davies The Davies Law Firm, P.A.

Now that is a terrible situation. You will make a reasonable enough request to the neice that she repair the house, and she will say that you are trying to take money from a dying old lady. Wonderful. What you are saying is correct, she has a duty to not wreck the house that you have a remainder interest in. You may be wise to have a lawyer like me write a demand letter and push them to get the repairs done. And looting your Aunt's money is wrong, clearly. I have fought battles like that too, and people do some rotten things to their older relatives.

Give me a call, make an appointment to come see me, and let's get moving on this for you.

Robert Davies, Esq. 201-820-3460

My contact information can be obtained from the links below, just click on the Attorney Profile link. Let my secretary know you found me through LawGuru.

Please keep in mind that my response is just a general comment on your question, and not legal advice. Your question and any response does NOT create an attorney-client relationship between you and this law firm. The exact details of your situation and things that you have not mentioned in your question can completely change the answer to your question. You can not rely upon what I have written, because I do not have all of the information that I need to advise you, I only have the very small amount of information that you put into your question. For me to give you any legal advice, I would need for you to hire me to be your lawyer, and then we would need to discuss this in detail and go over the documents.

To get legal advice that you can rely on and use, please contact me directly. I would be happy to assist you.

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Answered on 9/22/10, 4:52 pm


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