CESTUI QUE VIE

cestui que vie (set-ee [orses-twee] kee [or k<<schwa>>] vee). The person whose life measures the duration of a trust, gift, estate, or insurance contract. Cf. MEASURING LIFE. [Cases: Life Estates  1. C.J.S. Estates §§ 28–29, 31, 34.] “[L]et us assume that A instead transfers ‘to E for the life of A.’ Since A has used his own life as the measuring life of E’s estate, A has given away all that he had. Because E’s estate is measured by the life of someone other than himself, his estate is called an estate pur autre vie.A, whose life is the measuring life, is called the cestui que vie.” Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in Land and Future Interests 36 (2d ed. 1984). [Blacks Law 8th]