§ 873.840.Tenant For Life Or Years; Future Right Or Estate; Estate Fir Life Or Defeasible Estate With Remainder Over

This section works out how the proceeds of a partition sale should treat life estates, terms of years, and future interests. Subdivision (a) requires the court to ascertain the proportion of the proceeds that will be a just and reasonable sum for the satisfaction of the estate of a tenant for life or years, and to order that amount distributed to the tenant or held for the tenant's benefit.

Subdivision (b) does the same for future interests: the court ascertains the proportional value of any vested or contingent future right or estate in the property, then directs that proportion of the proceeds to be distributed, secured, or held in a manner that protects the rights and interests of the parties holding those future interests.

Subdivision (c) offers an alternative for a particular case — an estate for life or a defeasible estate with a remainder over. Upon a showing that establishing a trust is economically feasible and will serve the parties' best interests, the court can direct that the entire proceeds be placed in trust instead of divided up front. The court appoints a trustee, who must provide security satisfactory to the court, and under the court's supervision that trustee invests and reinvests the proceeds, pays the income to the life tenant or the owner of the defeasible interest, and, once that life or defeasible estate ends, delivers or pays the trust's principal to the remainderman. The court keeps jurisdiction over the trustee's accounts and the trust's administration until final distribution.