When the estate breaks the family
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Anonymous
| Long story very short. Multiple siblings equally inherit after death of parent. Most items are sold, liquidated, etc. Last item is home purchased for one sibling which has the estate as tenant in common. Parent put down 50% on house so sibling and spouse could afford it. Years later they are successfully employed, high earners. House is now worth 2x original purchase price. Sibling would like quit claim deed to house and their portion of cash. Other siblings think their house should be inheritance and get house plus equity which is much higher than cash split. Offers made but no agreement. Now siblings aren't talking. This is part vent and part looking for ideas on how to solve. Some say just let house go and split cash. Some say wait them out to sell or refinance. They can't with estate still on everything. Others say burn it down and go for partition. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| The sibling needs to reimburse the estate for that amount and then everything is split equally. I would not quit claiming it without them reimbursing me or buying it from the estate. |
Anonymous
| Saying they don't have to and not sure how to shake it lose. The executor (oldest sibling) is doing nothing. |
Anonymous
|
Sorry for your loss, OP.
I don't see how you will force something re: the house, it was more a gift in a sense and they are not budging. Does the will stipulate that cash is to be divided equally? |
Anonymous
| What was the agreement when your parents gave the sibling the money? Was it a gift? Loan? |
Anonymous
|
The law probably lays out how to deal with it. This is a property and estate law issue.
You guys should follow the law and the estate plan and the deed. Consult a good estate attorney and follow what he advises. If the sibling owns the house, he's under no obligation to gift you guys money from his share of liquid assets of inheritance. If he doesn't own it, he needs to pay the estate for its share. Siblings are under no obligation to quit claim. This is probably a simple legal issue. Figure out what the right legal answer is and follow it. No one needs to gift anyone anything on either side. -Attorney |
Anonymous
You don't necessarily know that this is the case, legally. |
Anonymous
Read the post "Last item is home purchased for one sibling which has the estate as tenant in common. " The estate partly or fully owns the estate. So, the sibling should at least pay back the amount given or deduct it from the inheritance or all the siblings partly own this house. |
Anonymous
| I think it's fair to split the amount your parents originally put down on the house. So if they put down $300k and your sib did the same, split the $300k with however many siblings. I would forgo the equity. |
Anonymous
|
The estate didn’t break the family.
If the sibling bought a property with inheritance proceeds, why is a quit claim deed required? They didn’t purchase the property in full? That’s where the mistake was made. |
Anonymous
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I reread your OP and it sounds like your parents did some weird stuff with the deed rather than gifting the down payment money outright.
That was their mistake. Siblings should shut up and back off. If they wanted down payment help, they could have asked, too. They didn’t. |
Anonymous
This. |
Anonymous
|
I have to tell you, I wouldn’t care about this at all. If it’s a house that is the home of my sibling, but my parents helped pay for it, I would want to transfer it to them in the easiest way that satisfies the legal requirements of probate or whatever.
I don’t care at all about me and my siblings getting an equal inheritance. I think if people are at the point where they want someone to move to a new house over that, the family was already “broken.” |
Anonymous
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OP, you need to hire a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction. Did your parent hold their assets in a trust? If not, it seems the house will have to go through probate. Was the interest in the house addressed in a will? Get legal advice. There are laws that cover the situation.
In general Co-Owned as Tenancy in Common: Probate Required Co-owners sometimes own real estate as tenants in common; you might come across this form of ownership if the co-owners inherited the real estate—for example, they were siblings who inherited a house from their parents—or were in business together. Each co-owner can name a beneficiary in his or her will; if there's no will, the deceased co-owner's interest in the property passes under state law to the closest relatives. Probate will be necessary to transfer the interest in the property. https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/wills-trusts/transferring-real-estate-after-death.html |
Anonymous
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OP, get advice from a lawyer in the relevant state. Did the will address the house?
If not, and if agreement cannot be reached, partition may be the only answer. I would personally not agree to a quit claim in this situation with an equal cash split. The house is a valuable asset of the estate. Unfortunately the family relationships are likely permanently damaged no matter what. Your parent and the sib could have addressed this when the sib's financial situation changed, buying out and refinancing, but did not. Thus, it's part of your parent's estate. The sib can continue to live there but not without making the estate whole. How would it be fair for them to get an expensive gift posthumously that was not given when your parent was alive? |