Brother is Living in House

[Naeblis]

What is the name of your state? Florida

My wife's father died several months ago and all the assets are being split 50/50 between her and her brother. She is the executor and he has signed waivers that allow her to proceed without him signing off on issues that may arise.

Two months ago he moved into the house on the premise of "fixing it up" before it is sold. We recently discovered that not only has he NOT been making repairs, but has damaged the property and allowed it to decline in appearance. The police have been out several times for drunken parties and noise.

He has also told the neighbours that the house is his and he has no intentions of selling. While we realize that he cannot really prevent the house from being sold, as the will is clear cut, we are afraid that he will ruin the property to the extent that no one will buy it

We also fear that no one will want to view the property with him and his friends in it.

Is there any way for my wife, who is the executor to have him removed from the property completely? Or can he insist on paying fair market value? If the "rent" would be coming out of his share of the estate, what prevents him from simply living in the house for 15 years and making it impossible to sell?
We fear that he is sabotaging the sale of the house intentionally as he is reducing the value of the home to such an extent that it is not worth selling at this reduced price.

Can we have him removed if he continues to neglect the property??

 

[MrsMoe]

State: Florida

This is the wife of the above poster.

Part of the issue lies in the attorney - which at this point has been terrible. I was told initially by the paralegal he uses that the court date to appoint me as personal representative was going to take 8 weeks. So I call 8 weeks later – Mid March and find out I was appointed 6 weeks ago on Feb 1st. The kicker is I wasn’t even sent my letter of administration until I called my attorney and said when should I expect my letter.

There is other numerous things that I was told incorrectly… and I’m not even going to bother going into detail on this.

Now, my brother – a convicted felon and drug addict - is living in the house and the exterior is so bad it looks like Sanford and Sons moved in. It’s just horrid, this is a third of a million dollar home with Gulf access on the water, and now he has literally depreciated the selling value by tens of thousands simply by the exterior appearance. My attorney (who is often confused and gives out the wrong information) tells me that my bother has the right to live there if he so chooses as he owns 50% of the house and the house is homesteaded (I thought homesteading was for a tax exemption only?,) and that I can collect only rent from him. I don’t want to collect rent, I want him OUT. I want to evict him. The house simply will not sell in the state it is in, and I will also need to make repairs to the property. I did have the electricity shut off today.

He has also stolen and driven the card, which I am going to have impounded.

How can I evict him in the State of Florida?

How can I get compensated for repair costs? Can I take this out of his share of the estate? Can I also get back the fees for the towing and impounding out of his share?

Thanks so much in advance for the advice. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Amanda

 

[GaAtty]

Waste of Estate

Please be aware that I am familiar with only Georgia law, but many of the same things will apply in Florida, although they may be called different names. As executor, you can do a proceeding in probate court called Petition to Sell Property, and ask the court for permission to be able to sell the property and split the proceeds. You may have to post a bond with the estate in order to file such a petition. The bond will be in the amount of the value of the house, or may be just the value of his share. You will also put in the petition to ask to be able to deduct from his share of the house value the amount of harm he has caused to the property, called "waste of the estate." You will probably have to get an appraiser to estimate the damage amount. The brother will have to be served on the proceedings. He will probably file a response that opposes your petition to sell. You will have to also have a current appraisal of the property. Florida law may say that you have to bring a damages action for him for the cost of the waste in a different court proceeding, but my guess is that it can be done in probate court. Once you get permission from the probate court to sell and deduct the costs he has incurred, then go for it--you can sell it and deduct the costs he has incurred. The only problem is that you may have to first incur the costs to fix it or it may not sell. But you will get the money back direct from the sale proceeds. You will probably need a probate attorney for this, someone who does estate litigation. You can do all of the above if you have NOT closed the estate and you are still executor. If you have already transferred the deed to his name and yours and recorded it in the courthouse, then you can go in front of the regular court (here it is called superior court) and do what is called a "partition" action. You will be asking the court to sell the property and order the proceeds split (also asking for his share to be reduced by the amount of waste he has done.) The attorney is wrong. There IS something you can do. You are both "co-tenants", but if you want your part, I have described what to do. You follow the first route if you are still in probate court, and the second if you have already deeded the property to him and you and filed them. Get another attorney, one who is used to doing estate litigation. You don't need this one. You probably must fire this attorney before talking to another about hiring them, unless you plan to add the new attorney on the case in addition to the first one. Usually you should not even talk to another if you have not fired the first one. Good luck.

 

[MrsMoe]

I found out today the vehicle is no logner on the property and it apepars he might have sold it! (he has the same name as my father.) So, I filed a stolen vehicle report.

Then, due to the condition of the house and the refusal today to allow real estate agents in to take interior photos therefore interferring with the sale of the home, the lawyer said I can file through the court and get an eviction. Yay! Bad news is, the eviction can take a month. Howeve, if my brother is arrested before then for auto theft and violation of his probation, it may be easier to make his girlfriend leave.

 

[pojo2]

Bad news is, the eviction can take a month.

No bad news is it can take a lot longer than 1 month!