Beach v. Beach
Supreme Court of Colorado
74 P.3d 1 (2003)
Karen K. Beach (defendant) let her aging parents build an addition onto her Colorado home, with the understanding that the addition would pass to Beach when her parents died. After her father died, Beach's relationship with her mother (plaintiff) soured, and her mother sued to partition her interest in the addition from Beach's interest. The trial court found the mother held a life estate and Beach held the remainder, and denied partition on the theory that the mother had impliedly waived her right to it. The court of appeals reversed, holding a Colorado statute let the mother compel partition and that she hadn't waived that right.
Whether a life estate and a future remainder interest in the same property, interests held at different times rather than concurrently, can be partitioned.