My father is deceased and mother 93 I provide in home care for her. When my father passed away it left home to my mother. She could not afford to pay for the 60,000.00 owed on the home so my sister from a previous marriage took out a loan and payed the mortgage off. my mother now lives there rent free. my question is this when my mother made out her will she stated that in the event of her passing the property would be shared by her 3 children 2 of which were from a previous marriage. Now that my sister has paid off the mortgage and all is in her name is the property still divided between the 3 of us if she passes? she says no and wants to sell the property as soon as my mother passes to pay her back for what she had to borrow. the property was valued at 130,000 she paid off 60,000 mortgage. she says that since all is in her name she is entitled to the whole amount . and my mothers will is no longer in affect.
Sissy - "OK family, the mortgage cost me $ 71K and the rest of you could have gotten a loan / mortgage / gone into debt to do this...but you didn't. I underwrote the risk and I am due the reward."
"If you two want the house, then make me whole on my investment including
taxes, insurance, etc.; utilities & maintenance; & comparable rent lost. Also there will need to be an independent appraisal done as the tax assessor value is I believe incorrect and too high. My costs are 113K: 71K loan; 20K house items, 15K in lost rental, 7K appraisal, Realtor commission, title,survey closing etc.
House sells "as is" 117K - everybody gets $ 1,333.33. Bad feelings till 2040.
Did your Mom sell property to your Sis?
Mom now has no ownership and whatever she put in her will regarding that property ages ago is no longer valid. It would be like if mom sold her car to a neighbor and the title was transferred on the auto to the neighbor. It's the neighbor's property now even if they drive your mom to Target. That is just a nice gesture...like Sissy allowing mom to live at the home rent-free.
However, my meaning, the crux of the issue that I was speaking to is when a family member does something without making it clear the expectations are, it has a tendency to look and feel suspicious. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, etc.
Doing things unilaterally without some kind of agreement, understanding or at least explanation doesn't work, never, EVER and there will ALWAYS be hard feelings. When you're dealing with the financial aspect of your ill family, even when its just amongst the family, everything should be done with strict records and everything on the table, just like it would have to be done for the court if it were a conservatorship. if they couldn't have reached a private agreement, this is a case where conservatorship may have been in order. Ugly but true.
Sometimes sibs don't know what's in the will. That's my case. I'm 56 and have not seen a notarized copy because my parents were so secretive.
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