Pur autre vie

In property law of countries with a common law background, including the United States and some Canadian provinces, pur autre vie (Law French for "for another['s] life") is a duration of a proprietary freehold interest in the form of a variant of a life estate.[1][2]

While it is similar to a standard life estate pur sa vie (for his or her own life), it differs in that a person's life interest will last for the life of another person, the cestui que vie, instead of his or her own.[1][2][3] For example, if Bob is given use of the family house for as long as his mother lives, he has possession of the house pur autre vie. A life estate pur autre vie can be created when a contingent remainder is destroyed, in a Doctrine of Merger situation, where one person acquires the life estate of another and thereby destroys a remainder not already vested.[4] It can also arise when a life tenant alienates his life estate to another, whereby the person to whom the estate is devised gains a life estate pur autre vie of the original life tenant.[5]