Bava Batra 136: Shared Ownership Through Early Inheritance

We learn a new Mishna: Rabbi Yehuda argues that a man must write that his sons can derive benefit from his property "from today until after he dies" to ensure that when he remarries, his wife's ketuba cannot be collected from his property.  Rabbi Yossi says that it is enough to specify that the property will be theirs after he dies.  If the son is given rights to his property "from now until after his death," neither the son nor the father can sell the property while the father is alive.  

The Mishna continues: if the father does sell the property, the buyer may benefit from its produce until the father's death, at which point the property is returned to the son's ownership.  If the son sold the property while his father was alive, the buyer has no rights to the property until after the father dies.  

The Gemara discusses the ramifications of writing down specific messages on documents.  The rabbis argue about the possible meanings of "from today until after my death."  They were interested to know that scribes working for different rabbis were aware of the distinctions they might be documenting.  Scribes also helped the rabbis introduce the importance of witnesses.  

Moving on to the topic of the buyer in this circumstance, the rabbis wonder how different factors might affect his ownership and his benefit from the land.  For example, how might one's conditional ownership affect the blessings one would say over bikurim, first fruits?  

Finally, the Gemara considers the intentions of a father who leaves his property to his sons while he is still alive.  The rabbis note the halacha relating to inheritance and other possible heirs.