What is the name of your state? NC
My father passed away leaving his house (2/3's to my brothers and me and 1/3 to our stepmother). After two years, the estate is finally settled (all delays being on our stepmother as she was executress) and we want to sell our shares to our stepmother who has been living alone in the house. The house was appraised, and after taking into account the current mortgage owed, mortgage payments and taxes (which she has paid), repairs (which she has also paid, though much of it we believe is purely cosmetic) we came up with our 2/3 share of the remaining equity to be about $69,000.00. She says she will give us $40,500.00 and no more, even though she is in agreement on the expenses. She has threatened to continue to make "improvements" on the house until we owe her so much money that our share is nil. If we sue for partition, how much will that cost? Can we make her liable for any of the costs? We are hoping that the fear of the lawsuit will make her change her mind about her offer, but if not are there any guarantees that the house will be sold at or around its appraised value? Are we liable for cosmetic enhancements to the house? For example - replacing a floor that is in good repair, or painting every room a different color with expensive paints, gold trim etc. Can we charge her rent, as she has had sole use of the house for all this time, and offset the fact she has been paying the mortgage? Any advice is most welcome.
My father passed away leaving his house (2/3's to my brothers and me and 1/3 to our stepmother). After two years, the estate is finally settled (all delays being on our stepmother as she was executress) and we want to sell our shares to our stepmother who has been living alone in the house. The house was appraised, and after taking into account the current mortgage owed, mortgage payments and taxes (which she has paid), repairs (which she has also paid, though much of it we believe is purely cosmetic) we came up with our 2/3 share of the remaining equity to be about $69,000.00. She says she will give us $40,500.00 and no more, even though she is in agreement on the expenses. She has threatened to continue to make "improvements" on the house until we owe her so much money that our share is nil. If we sue for partition, how much will that cost? Can we make her liable for any of the costs? We are hoping that the fear of the lawsuit will make her change her mind about her offer, but if not are there any guarantees that the house will be sold at or around its appraised value? Are we liable for cosmetic enhancements to the house? For example - replacing a floor that is in good repair, or painting every room a different color with expensive paints, gold trim etc. Can we charge her rent, as she has had sole use of the house for all this time, and offset the fact she has been paying the mortgage? Any advice is most welcome.