Co-Owner of Land

What is the name of your state? New York

My husband and his brother were given property by their mother. This is lakefront property with a house. The brother hasn't been to the house in years and hasn't contributed a dime to maintenance repairs or expenses.

Originally the property was in their mothers will to be equally shared among all her children and if the property were sold all would have to agree. There was then a large fight in the family and the the sons were deeded the property.

The only time the brother does come to the property is to use it for a day trip. What are our options (we've repeatedly told them the repairs we've made - broken pipes, tree damage from storms, concrete repairs, electrical repairs) but he never contributes (claims his wife won't let him).

Because the property is valued quite high, it would be almost impossible to buy him out (we don't want to lose the property - we've put a lot of sweat and money into maintaining it).

Can we force him to split the bills (the taxes, nimo and telephone are paid from rental income from another property and we split 50/50 at tax time).

[BelizeBreeze]

Can we force him to split the bills

Aside from 'Big Louie' across the kneecaps, the answer is no.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by Louisep

What is the name of your state? New York

My husband and his brother were given property by their mother. This is lakefront property with a house. The brother hasn't been to the house in years and hasn't contributed a dime to maintenance repairs or expenses.

Originally the property was in their mothers will to be equally shared among all her children and if the property were sold all would have to agree. There was then a large fight in the family and the the sons were deeded the property.

The only time the brother does come to the property is to use it for a day trip. What are our options (we've repeatedly told them the repairs we've made - broken pipes, tree damage from storms, concrete repairs, electrical repairs) but he never contributes (claims his wife won't let him).

Because the property is valued quite high, it would be almost impossible to buy him out (we don't want to lose the property - we've put a lot of sweat and money into maintaining it).

Can we force him to split the bills (the taxes, nimo and telephone are paid from rental income from another property and we split 50/50 at tax time).

**A: yes, you can take him to court to force him to pay his share of the expenses.