DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the motion is granted, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, for entry of an appropriate judgment.
By deed dated November 15, 2001, Sarah Grund transferred title to certain real property to the plaintiffs "subject to a retained life estate" in herself and the defendant, Walter Grund. Mrs. Grund died on March 11, 2002. The defendant refused to vacate the premises after Mrs. Grund's death and the plaintiffs commenced this action seeking, inter alia, a declaration that the defendant does not have a life estate in the property.
The reservation of a life estate in the deed did not create a valid interest in favor of the defendant, who was a "stranger to the deed," even assuming that it was Mrs. Grund's intention to create such a life estate ( see Matter of Estate of Thomson v. Wade, 69 N.Y.2d 570, 573-574; Tuscarora Club of Millbrook v. Brown, 215 N.Y. 543; Beachside Bungalow Preserv. Assn. of Far Rockaway v. Oceanview Assoc., 301 A.D.2d 488; Lechtenstein v. P.E.F. Enters., 189 A.D.2d 858). Consequently, the Supreme Court should have granted the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.
ALTMAN, J.P., SMITH, FRIEDMANN and H. MILLER, JJ., concur.