Siblings Refusing to Sell House

I am in Florida. My mother passed away in Nov. 2007. She had no will. Her estate consists of a house which is completely paid off, no debt whatsoever, a checking account, and an annuity. She had a homestead exemption on the house prior to her passing. Her husband has already passed away, so the estate should be passed down to myself and my three siblings. My eldest brother is the Representative of the estate and there is an atty helping my brother, but I don't trust the atty or my siblings. Here are the issues... First of all...my youngest brother had lived in the house with my mother for his whole life...never worked a day in his life...he sits in front of the computer playing video games all day (he's in his mid-forties!) -- A couple of months prior to my mother's passing, she added my youngest brother to her checking account (in my opinion for convenience purposes). My eldest brother and my sister are very well off financially. I am not. I have two small children and am struggling terribly financially. I am barely hanging on to my own home and trying to stay out of foreclosure. My problem is that my two eldest siblings initially tried to get me to sign over my inheritance (mainly the house) to my youngest brother as that is what they were going to do. They said that "mother would have wanted him to be taken care of". I refused and this pissed them off. So another month goes by and my youngest brother is still living in the house...rent free...he is spending the money in the checking account and continuing to live stress free while I work two jobs to support my family! So, now my eldest brother has opened the probate case and I just received a Petition regarding homestead exemption on the house and I am supposed to sign this along with my three siblings. I asked their atty about this and whether this will effect the sale of the house and I was told that my siblings have no intention of selling the house and that I would remain one of the four owners of the house while my youngest brother continues to live there! They are also saying that my youngest brother will get all of her bank account funds even though his name was just added on after never having been a joint account for 40+ years. The atty my siblings hired is very curt with me..and as I said..I really don't trust the guy....and the relationship I have with my siblings is rather frigid as well (I am the black sheep). My question is this...because the house had a homestead exemption and I am being urged to sign what is titled "joinder in and consent to petition to determine homestead real property"....which states that I would be 1/4 owner of the home,....will this have an adverse effect on my plight of somehow asking the court to either force a sale or a refi or their buying me out? Theoretically, my youngest brother could continue to live there for 40-50+ years with only myself protesting. He has no wife, no kids...and has been a loner his whole life. The house is three bedrooms with a huge yard to take care of, yet my older siblings have convinced him to stay put in the house versus getting a smaller condo/apt. My younger brother did go out and just got a part-time job to cover the utility bills, but otherwise he continues to spend his day sitting like a lump playing computer games. Can I petition the probate court to do something on my behalf? If so, how would I go about this? If this is not a probate issue then is there something else I can do? Also, is there a way for me to request looking at the bank account documents so I can see if there is a clause regarding survivorship of the account? I cannot afford an attorney as I am one paycheck away from losing my home. If anyone can please give me any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

You may end up needing an attorney. The problem is not brother stayng in the house- it's brother staying without first buying out all the other interests at fair market value.

BTW- the family is doing brother no favors by allowing him to simply go through life doing nothing, accumulating no social security, savings, or pension. Someday, and it won't be that far off, he'll have no body to help him, AND NOTHING TO FALL BACK ON.

mAKE IT CLEAR, YOU EXPECT THAT, IF BROTHER WANTS THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE REAL ESTATE ASSET FOR HIMSELF, YOU EXPECT HIM TO PAY YOU FOR YOUR SHARE.

Let me start by saying I did not read the post in explicit detail. Posters, paragraphs are your friend.

Next, I have to disagree with nextwife (which is very unusual) owners have the right to possession. Brother can stay in a place HE OWNS without paying rent to the other owners. If he were to rent the place he has to share in the profits, but not for him staying there.

The accounts belong to the owner. From the little I understoon, they belong to brother.

As to what the OP should do, the remedy is a partition lawsuit where the end result (let SJ provide the practical) is the property is sold and the owners appropriately split the amounts.

The title of the house was solely in my mother's name prior to her passing. The checking account was solely in her name up until 3 months before her passing and then she added my brother on (not sure if there is a survivorship clause...and not sure how to find out if there was).

I agree with nextwife that my older siblings are not doing my little brother any favors by continuing to try and "protect him, as mother would have wanted". My little brother originally told me he wanted to sell and get a condo, but then my other siblings talked to him and he completely changed his tune....opting to stay put.

So, what would my best recourse be? To wait until the probate closes and then try a partition lawsuit? Is there nothing at all I can do to petition the probate court regarding the situation? And does the fact that the house was/will continue to be covered by Florida homestead exemption ward off any kind attempts at a forced sale, refi, etc.?

Would my local chapter of Legal Aid take on a matter like this?

Finally, what does OP and SJ stand for?

Thanks!

tranquility said:

Let me start by saying I did not read the post in explicit detail. Posters, paragraphs are your friend.

Next, I have to disagree with nextwife (which is very unusual) owners have the right to possession. Brother can stay in a place HE OWNS without paying rent to the other owners. If he were to rent the place he has to share in the profits, but not for him staying there.

The accounts belong to the owner. From the little I understoon, they belong to brother.

As to what the OP should do, the remedy is a partition lawsuit where the end result (let SJ provide the practical) is the property is sold and the owners appropriately split the amounts.

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Brother's only ownership in the house is his estate share./ It IS his residence, NOT his property.

It is only the checking for which mom set up jt ownership.

Brother's only ownership in the house is his estate share./ It IS his residence, NOT his property.

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I knew I shouldn't have disagreed, especially without reading the mass in detail. (It's sometimes hard to tell when the voices I hear in the back of my head are to help or hurt me. )

What nextwife said.

OK, so I am clear that it is his residence and not his property. But do you have any suggestions regarding possibly petitioning the probate court for forced sale or refi, etc?

The homestead exemption protection states that it protects against creditors causing a forced sale, but what about when the relatives don't get along (me against my siblings) and the siblings are forced to share ownership of a house. Must it be a full-blown partition lawsuit I try? Please advise. Thanks.

As nextwife said, it's the estate's house, not brother's. (Yet) If the executor believes it is best for the estate and considering his fiduciary duties to all beneficiaries thinks it is best to sell the house, he should do so. Some states require the permission of the court. The executor should get an attorney and deal with the sale as though he was a landlord. There is no need for a partition lawsuit as there is only one owner, the estate, and the executor decides. (Within the guidelines of his fiduciary duties.)

But it is the executor who does not want to sell the house...and my two other siblings do not want to sell the house. I, on the other hand, DO want the house sold because I don't want to be a 1/4 owner of the house. There will be no income from this property with my younger brother living there for the next 40+ years rent-free....I am struggling financially and want to petiiton the court to force a sale. I do not know whether I need to fill out a certain form to petition the probate court. Please advise.

You don't have standing to petition at this time unless you feel the executor is breaching his fiduciary duties by not selling the house. Then you can petition to remove him as executor. I don't think so, but I don't know all the facts. (Like, if the estate has been open overly long for no purpose.) Once the house is distributed, you can then initiate a partition lawsuit. Often only the threat of such is enough to motivate people.

In either case an attorney would be required as the issues are very technical. The litigation will be expensive and will take a lot of time.

tranquility said:

You don't have standing to petition at this time unless you feel the executor is breaching his fiduciary duties by not selling the house. Then you can petition to remove him as executor. I don't think so, but I don't know all the facts. (Like, if the estate has been open overly long for no purpose.) Once the house is distributed, you can then initiate a partition lawsuit. Often only the threat of such is enough to motivate people.

In either case an attorney would be required as the issues are very technical. The litigation will be expensive and will take a lot of time.

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I didn't read all that stuff either.

BUT if poster wants the court to sell the place and poster is an heir, then a motion to have the probate court to sell it is not out of order.

Let the executor buy it. (Naturally, a new executor, even if pro-tem, would have to be appointed since personal representatives must not buy stuff from the estate.)

The reason I posted here to begin with is because the handful of attorneys I have spoken with locally (initial consultation) all have differences of opinion on what I should do. One said to petition the probate court and two others said to wait until after probate.

My eldest brother is the representative of the estate....he and my sister want to "protect" my younger brother by letting him live in the house FOREVER rent-free...yet my younger brother has never worked a job (although he is capable). It is such a frustrating situation for me. If I was to "motion the probate court" is there a certain form I would fill out or do I just write an informal request to the court and file it? I cannot afford an attorney and not sure if my local Legal Aid chapter would handle such a case.

BUT if poster wants the court to sell the place and poster is an heir, then a motion to have the probate court to sell it is not out of order.

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How so, SJ? What's the caption on your petition? Heirs do not get to force the executor to do unecessary work. Unless there is a breach of some sort, I don't see it.

I'm pretty sure there is not a statutory cause of action and I would be fascinated if there was some preceedential case law saying the heir controls the estate. What are they going to use in the P&A, "it's not f-a-i-r!"?

One said to petition the probate court and two others said to wait until after probate.

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I bet one thinks there is a fiduciary breach and the other two don't. I don't have the facts to tell.

If I was to "motion the probate court" is there a certain form I would fill out or do I just write an informal request to the court and file it? I cannot afford an attorney and not sure if my local Legal Aid chapter would handle such a case.

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You have zero chance pro per. If legal aid won't help, you have a problem.