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Conflict with co-executor

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Johnnygx

New member
What is the name of your state? Connecticut

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice. I am a co-executor with my sister on my father's estate. In my father's will he left his home to the both of us. My sister has no interest in purchasing it and I told that I might be. My sister was living with my father in his home when he passed. A few days after he passed she wanted to move out of the home but was concerned that the house, if left vacant, would be vandalized, become infested, the lawn would become overgrown, etc. I tried to convince her to stay in the home since was already living there and it would address the concerns for the estate, but she insisted on moving out. I offered to move in and continue to pay the bills to the mortgage and other accounts for the estate would be in good standing; she agreed. Months later at the end of the claims period ended my sister hired a lawyer to represent her in her inheritance, and has since insisted that I pay rent moving forward as well as back rent. I still maintain my residence in the home I've owned for 15 years; I hold the mortgage and have my business registered there as well - I've never claimed my fathers home as my residence.

Also, my father had the bill for the leased solar on the home automatically drawn from an account he had, one that he added my sister to so there would be access to cash in case he passed. Since he did not state this account to be for the estate in his will, the account is legally my sisters now. She is now demanding reimbursement for the money withdrawn monthly from the account which needs to be paid to prevent late fees or risk of removal of the solar equipment. She stated since she does not directly benefit from the solar, so she should not be paying for it. I see it as we both benefit from the estate bills being paid; the home is not in foreclosure, it is still insured, and while living there I discovered a problem with the furnace that caused it to stop working.

Since there is a lot of equity in the estate, more than enough to pay all probate fees, charging me rent only increases her inheritance at my expense. In my opinion, she is not acting in the best interest of the estate, and is only acting in self interest which is in conflict with being an executor. I've since hired and attorney but it seems this is a continuous loop of me stating the fact that I am there is because she left and her stating she demands rent. I'm not getting any real guidance other than walk away from it.

She wants to get the house on the market right away but I can't get her expenses on the estate to know the total finances - needed for me to make a buyout offer. I have agreed to the fair market value appraisal of the house. I feel that she is doing whatever she can to raise the expenses in the hopes that I cannot afford to buy her out.

How can I formally dispute the rent issue? Can she force listing the house for sale if I am willing to buy her out at the agreed price? Is there a way to end this cycle?

Thanks in advance,
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Connecticut

Hello all,

I am looking for some advice. I am a co-executor with my sister on my father's estate. In my father's will he left his home to the both of us. My sister has no interest in purchasing it and I told that I might be. My sister was living with my father in his home when he passed. A few days after he passed she wanted to move out of the home but was concerned that the house, if left vacant, would be vandalized, become infested, the lawn would become overgrown, etc. I tried to convince her to stay in the home since was already living there and it would address the concerns for the estate, but she insisted on moving out. I offered to move in and continue to pay the bills to the mortgage and other accounts for the estate would be in good standing; she agreed. Months later at the end of the claims period ended my sister hired a lawyer to represent her in her inheritance, and has since insisted that I pay rent moving forward as well as back rent. I still maintain my residence in the home I've owned for 15 years; I hold the mortgage and have my business registered there as well - I've never claimed my fathers home as my residence.

Also, my father had the bill for the leased solar on the home automatically drawn from an account he had, one that he added my sister to so there would be access to cash in case he passed. Since he did not state this account to be for the estate in his will, the account is legally my sisters now. She is now demanding reimbursement for the money withdrawn monthly from the account which needs to be paid to prevent late fees or risk of removal of the solar equipment. She stated since she does not directly benefit from the solar, so she should not be paying for it. I see it as we both benefit from the estate bills being paid; the home is not in foreclosure, it is still insured, and while living there I discovered a problem with the furnace that caused it to stop working.

Since there is a lot of equity in the estate, more than enough to pay all probate fees, charging me rent only increases her inheritance at my expense. In my opinion, she is not acting in the best interest of the estate, and is only acting in self interest which is in conflict with being an executor. I've since hired and attorney but it seems this is a continuous loop of me stating the fact that I am there is because she left and her stating she demands rent. I'm not getting any real guidance other than walk away from it.

She wants to get the house on the market right away but I can't get her expenses on the estate to know the total finances - needed for me to make a buyout offer. I have agreed to the fair market value appraisal of the house. I feel that she is doing whatever she can to raise the expenses in the hopes that I cannot afford to buy her out.

How can I formally dispute the rent issue? Can she force listing the house for sale if I am willing to buy her out at the agreed price? Is there a way to end this cycle?

Thanks in advance,
The way to end the cycle is for the estate to pay the expenses of the estate (which includes the solar panels) and for you to get the house on the market ASAP. Unless one of you intends to make the house your permanent residence there is no reason to buy the other out.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
She is BS'ing you on the rent issue. She can not charge you rent because there was no previously signed agreement with you to do so. If you want to make an agreement with her to pay rent in the future, then that is up to you to decide. Ask your attorney to write a letter to her about that issue to let her know that there was no previously signed agreement.
 

bcr229

Active Member
Your sister is demanding rent going forward, not past rent. If you don't want to pay it then move out of the house.

Your buyout offer on the house should have nothing to do with the estate's overall expenses. Hire an independent appraiser to get a value on the house or find some other way to assign a value to it (Zillow, recent comps, etc) and make a fair market value offer.

If your sister has been paying for the rental of the solar equipment out of her own funds then the estate needs to reimburse her for that.
 

Johnnygx

New member
Thank you all.
@LdiJ, I do want to buy the home and have agreed to the value that she had appraised. She has expense claims against the estate (including the solar) that she will need reimbursement on, as I do. If I don't know what those expenses are I cannot complete the finances for estate which includes the payout values for the both of us.
@Danny Don, I've been making the statement that our agreement did not include rent. As well as the fact that I moved in to solve a problem she created by vacating the property.
@bcr229, My buyout offer would be to pay her what she would get if the house were sold, the only difference being I would not be getting a check. I've agreed to her appraisal value and I am not looking for special treatment, the math for the payouts does not change in either scenario for sale vs. buyout.
 

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