Remainder

A “remainder” in land, is an estate (interest) in lad that is a remnant or left over after a prior estate or ownership interest in the land ends. The prior estate and remainder estate are created at the same time and under the same legal document (instrument) such as a deed. For example, I give my ownership interest in my house to John and on John’s death, the ownership (remaining interest after John’s rights) shall go to Jane. Jane has a remainder interest. Similarly, I could place a rental property in trust with all net rental income to my daughter Sally, and upon Sally’s death (or some specified number of years) the property shall go to a named charity, such as the National Parkinson’s Foundation.

In other words, a remainder is an estate or interest in property that will be enjoyed after the expiration of a prior estate.

There are a host of types of remainder interests:

Contingent Remainder (the remainder is dependent upon an event or other occurrence).
Charitable remainder (a charity gets the remainder interest).
etc.