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During Probate, Who Pays the Condo Fees?

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yZenhymer

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? = CA, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles City, Community of Encino.
Mother-in-Law, "MIL"
brother-in-law, "BIL"
Questions are preceeded with "Q:"
I appreciate in-line comments, TIA.

Q: Who pays the condo fees during the several months of probate?

Q: Can I continue to pay any remaining bills, property taxes, HOA fees etc from her checking account just like when she was alive?

Q: Can I continue to transfer money from my MIL's equity line to pay for my BIL's living expenses?

Q: Can my BIL continue to live in the condo and can I continue to pay for his housing expenses from his mother's account?

Q: I have made a few transfers into the joint checking account from the equity line, post death to ensure that we have enough money to pay for the condo HOA fees and property taxes for my MIL's real property. Is this bad?

Q: Ouside of a few nick-nack's the only item of value is a condo, a checking account with 6k AToD, that I've added another $20K to from the equity line, considering the previous question, as long as this money pays for the estate's expenses, what liability for spending this money, do my wife and I have?

Details:

After a 10 year battle with Parkinson's, my MIL passed away this week; her Will is not available, however a copy stipulates that her estate be divided equally between my wife and her brother.

Yes, we took her to a downtown LA Lawyer about 7 years ago, $500/hr for free as a favor from a family friend, my MIL declined to setup a trust, it was too expensive, $3,500. About 4 years ago we took her to a geriatric law attorney, who suggested a trust, she declined, saying the $1,700 fee was too much, we took her to a friend of the family who had taken over the practice of her cousin, she declined the trust saying it was too expensive.

My wife had(s) a Power-of-Attny (PoA), and a joint checking account with her mother, bound to her mother's equity line that we used to transfer money into the checking account to pay my MIL's bills.

My wife is not a signer on the equity line, but we do have access to the account, on-line to make transfers on her behalf, however this is all in question now that the PoA died along with my MIL.

My MIL has entrusted my wife and myself to do her banking and has asked us to watch over her son, however that is a job that we never agreed to.

My brother-in-law (BIL) (46 years old) lives in the condo but has no way of rent to cover the HOA fees.

Thanks.

JeffP....
 


I

itsacatsworld

Guest
The owner of the property is liable for the HOA fees and will recoup them in there own way.
 

BlondiePB

Senior Member
itsacatsworld said:
The owner of the property is liable for the HOA fees and will recoup them in there own way.
The owner of the property is deceased. What other wrong advice do you have for the poster?
 

BlondiePB

Senior Member
yZenhymer,
Your post is too long and cumbersome to read which is probably why you are not receiving responses. Please try giving a condensed version. It would be best just to this by adding to the replies rather than deleting and editing your initial post in case the long version is needed for reference. Also, has a probate case been opened, and, if so, are you or someone else the executor?
 
Last edited:

yZenhymer

Junior Member
We have contacted an attny, however we are still trying to find an original copy of the will and may agree to work with an atny noted below.


*** faint of heart do not read ***
Ironically an attny wife of a former co-worker of mine had taken over the practice of the cousin who drew of the will we have a copy of. Although this dosen't mean that they will have an original, perhaps they will know how to get with the witnesses.

I have learned that as long as both my wife and her brother, the sole heirs, agree on expenses then they can do prety much what they wish, or I should say ask me to pay my BIL's bills. It may not be fair to my wife or myself, but we just want to be done with the whole afair and view the inequality money to be the price of having a looser for a brother.

Finally, I also post in model airplane NG's and their posts are often much longer and detailed, yet they are replied to, its really a shame that we only come here when we need help. By then it's usually too late.
 

BlondiePB

Senior Member
We have contacted an attny, however we are still trying to find an original copy of the will and may agree to work with an atny noted below.


*** faint of heart do not read ***
Ironically an attny wife of a former co-worker of mine had taken over the practice of the cousin who drew of the will we have a copy of. Although this dosen't mean that they will have an original, perhaps they will know how to get with the witnesses.
This attorney specializes in probate, right? You require one that does, not a friend's wife that just happened to take over her cousin's business. Not too long ago here on the forum a poster had quite the horror story when he hired a friend of a family member who was an attorney that did not specialize in probate.
I have learned that as long as both my wife and her brother, the sole heirs, agree on expenses then they can do prety much what they wish, or I should say ask me to pay my BIL's bills. It may not be fair to my wife or myself, but we just want to be done with the whole afair and view the inequality money to be the price of having a looser for a brother.
Why not just divide the estate equally, give loser brother his share of the estate (including from the sale of the house), and just be done with the loser?
Finally, I also post in model airplane NG's and their posts are often much longer and detailed, yet they are replied to, its really a shame that we only come here when we need help. By then it's usually too late.
When posters give too much information that is usually not necessary and usually emotional, we responders do find it cumbersome to read through long posts. This forum must be much different from the model airplane one.

Thank you very much for the brief version. In your case, it's not too late for you to just be done with loser BIL. Your deceased MIL's bills do need to be paid by her estate, and that means probate and an estate account. Get good council.

Lastly, as you can see, itsacatsworld was banned from this site today.
 

yZenhymer

Junior Member
BlondiePB: Thanks for your comprehensive reply.

The attny cousin I believe specialized in geriatric law, and the the friend's wife surley does we went to her with my MIL and pleaded with her to setup a trust, my MIL declined due to the $2k cost, which I explained was less than the cost of probate. Argh!

Yes, we are planning on dividing the estate, however my BIL needs a place to live and if we can get enough rent from him and a room mate then we would allow him to reside there and not force the sale.

However that is un-likely and out of character for him, so most likely after the estates creditors are paid we'll force the sale. I know that CA real estate will always increase in value, but I also know the grief we could be getting into going into business with my BIL.

I'm posting another thread related to one of my Q's.....

JeffP....
 

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