Sibling won’t cough up money for estate

[Anonymous]

Due to the virus situation, job uncertainty and volatile stock market some of your family may not have $5000 or less just sitting around.

[Anonymous]

Your brother may not have money now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rest of the siblings should make up the 5k gap. The sibling that didn’t contribute should have 5k deducted from their share of the estate.

This is the easiest if you move forward with improvements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter how bad of condition a house is in, someone will buy it if it's priced right.
Don't do the renovations, just make it a clean sale and divide the proceeds, whatever they may be.

This. Honestly, sinking $20k or whatever it is into an estate sale house is a horrible idea. The housing market is s**t right now and you are all putting your money at risk. Don’t repair anything unless it’s dangerous and sell as-is. Be done with it.

There’s not an excuse for not responding to you, but I will say this. A LOT has changed in the last two weeks. People are scared. No way in hell would I fork over 5k of my savings for anything unnecessary right now when the economy is in the tank and no one knows when they might need money. I sort of can’t even believe you’re still expecting all of your siblings to move forward under these conditions.

This. A lot has changed in 2 weeks.

[Anonymous]

OP, as the executor, you are allowed to spend money that the estate owns. Is there nothing there? No money in an estate bank account? Spending it on "maintenance" on the house is perfectly legit.

If I were your Brother, I'd be wary of handing over MY money ... and then maybe more.

Of course there are going to be differences in opinion about how much/if any needs to be done on the house to sell.

[Anonymous]

Since you are already under stress I'd serious consider paying the cancel clause on the contract, Sell house as is, divide the money and move on with your life.

I've never had remodeling that was not stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long story short, last parent recently passed away and I’m the unlucky one who’s in charge of the family trust. We’re getting ready to sell the family home but because of its poor condition we all agreed in a family meeting to throw in $5,000. each towards doing cosmetic work on the house in order to sell it. As recently as 2 weeks ago this one sibling was still in agreement with this plan.

Now all of a sudden the work’s getting ready to begin and every sibling has given their $5,000. share except this one brother. I’ve repeatedly (nicely) asked him for his check by email but he refuses to even reply back. And no, there’s no financial issues due to the virus situation. How would you handle this? It would be one thing if he was honest enough to come out and tell me he no longer had the money but no, I can’t even get a response back.

At this point it’s more the fact that he’s flaking out on the rest of us more than the money itself. I’m not even sure if I even have the legal right to force the issue. It’s also possible all of us siblings will have to come up with more money down the road if the house doesn’t sell within a few months. I’m already sick of this executor crap and the no thanks that comes with it.

As an executor you should not be a collection agency collecting money from your siblings. Price house extremely competitively to sell as is. Is there any cash money in the estate?
If not you do not want to be in the position of collecting money from your siblings. Put competitive price on house and move it.

Sorry for your loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rest of the siblings should make up the 5k gap. The sibling that didn’t contribute should have 5k deducted from their share of the estate.

The 5 grand PLUS the added value after the repairs have been done. No sharing in profit if you don’t pony up first.

[Anonymous]

Why can't you just deduct his $5000 from his share of the proceeds? Also, now you know that this is the sort of stuff that you need to get in writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rest of the siblings should make up the 5k gap. The sibling that didn’t contribute should have 5k deducted from their share of the estate.

The 5 grand PLUS the added value after the repairs have been done. No sharing in profit if you don’t pony up first.

If the house is in such bad shape, that $15-20K isn't going to do much but paint, carpet and a few other cosmetic fixes. Anyone who knows anything about houses will look at the plumbing, electrical, siding, kitchen, windows, roof and gutters and see the need. If brother is not in a position to pay, its not reasonable to demand it of him. OP made the decision and expected everyone to go along with it. She's wasting money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, as the executor, you are allowed to spend money that the estate owns. Is there nothing there? No money in an estate bank account? Spending it on "maintenance" on the house is perfectly legit.

If I were your Brother, I'd be wary of handing over MY money ... and then maybe more.

Of course there are going to be differences in opinion about how much/if any needs to be done on the house to sell.

She'd prefer to spend her siblings money instead. I would be very weary of handing money over. Its not necessary.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't give money at this time. I have about $20K cash in the bank. More in investment funds but it's not the time to sell. I wouldn't give 1/4 of that to anyone right before a likely economic depression.

Stop trying to control your sibling. They are making a rational choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Usually repairs etc are paid for out of the estate. Is there no money?

The OP said that the house is in terrible condition (any renovations would be cosmetic only, like lipstick on a pig).

Based on that, it sounds like there wasn't much to the estate BUT the house.

Our house was in terrible condition. It was mainly cometic, a huge amount of cosmetic work but that's the kind of house we were looking for. We didn't want someone to waste their money when we wanted to do it our way/our choices. For $15-20K, they aren't going to get much as most of the cost will be labor. She should have taken a loan against the house or even better not done it. She choose to do it and expected others to pay. I could see my sibling doing that as the executor but not a chance I'm paying.

This... 100% THIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just pay it yourself and have the estate pay you back. Why aren’t you just using estate funds to do the repairs?

My mother left each sibling $20,000 in cash plus the house to be sold. After giving each sibling their $20,000. it was understood that we’d each have to contribute $5,000. to fix the home prior to selling it. Somehow I’m guessing this sibling used up his $20,000. and doesn’t have any to give. The worse part for me is him refusing to even answer my calls or emails.

Now I can see why so many families fight and never speak to each other again. And you know what I did today? I spent it clearing out this home without help from this brother even though he fully knew we’d be working on the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever money you put into the house gets reimbursed when you settle the trust. Keep good records of who contributed what amount. Keep receipts. This is an unfortunate time to try to sell a house--but it might be worse in a year or so, so I would move forward and sell it during the peak spring rush.

I realize this but the bottom line is why do I have foot the bill? I’m already doing 100% of this entire estate work including being the only one to lift a finger when we buried my mom.