Los Angeles, CA
Hi,
My father recently passed away but before passing he transferred to me via Grant Deed his 3/5 ownership of a two lot property with four houses on it located in Los Angeles. My father and our family have been living on the property for over 30 years. During that time, he maintained the property, paid all insurance and expenses including property taxes and the other two owners had never asked him for any rents for their share of the interest. Now that he's passed away, they are now suing me for the interest and are requesting that court order a partition by sale. I know that before my father passed he had been trying to work things out with one of the other owners. The other owner died so his interest was transferred to his children who had no idea they had legal ownership in the property until now. The other two owners are family and I know that my father would have wanted us to work something out. There is no hostility among us I would just like to arrive at a deal that is fair to all of us. My father was originally 1/5 owner of the property but over the years had been buying out the other owners eventually leaving him as 3/5 owner. In my mind, my father's actions made it clear that he would someday want to own the whole property so I have no intention of selling the property. Which means my only option is two buy-out the other two owners. The question I have is, is there a way that I can structure this without having to take out a massive loan? For example, can I say that I will promise to pay them $X a month for the next X years in exchange for their interest? Also, would they be entitled to the fair market value in coming up with the sale price? And finally, assuming they can get fair market value, do you think it would be wise to factor in the property taxes, maintenance, insurance and expenses that were paid to maintain the property? I'm told they can request their share of past rents but I'm not overly concerned about that because my father didn't charge much. I've hired an attorney but I'm curious to know how some on this board would go about this. Really appreciate the input and feedback. Thank you!
Hi,
My father recently passed away but before passing he transferred to me via Grant Deed his 3/5 ownership of a two lot property with four houses on it located in Los Angeles. My father and our family have been living on the property for over 30 years. During that time, he maintained the property, paid all insurance and expenses including property taxes and the other two owners had never asked him for any rents for their share of the interest. Now that he's passed away, they are now suing me for the interest and are requesting that court order a partition by sale. I know that before my father passed he had been trying to work things out with one of the other owners. The other owner died so his interest was transferred to his children who had no idea they had legal ownership in the property until now. The other two owners are family and I know that my father would have wanted us to work something out. There is no hostility among us I would just like to arrive at a deal that is fair to all of us. My father was originally 1/5 owner of the property but over the years had been buying out the other owners eventually leaving him as 3/5 owner. In my mind, my father's actions made it clear that he would someday want to own the whole property so I have no intention of selling the property. Which means my only option is two buy-out the other two owners. The question I have is, is there a way that I can structure this without having to take out a massive loan? For example, can I say that I will promise to pay them $X a month for the next X years in exchange for their interest? Also, would they be entitled to the fair market value in coming up with the sale price? And finally, assuming they can get fair market value, do you think it would be wise to factor in the property taxes, maintenance, insurance and expenses that were paid to maintain the property? I'm told they can request their share of past rents but I'm not overly concerned about that because my father didn't charge much. I've hired an attorney but I'm curious to know how some on this board would go about this. Really appreciate the input and feedback. Thank you!
