What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? GA, but the building is in SC
My father owned 1/3 of a business with his two brothers who also owned 1/3 each. The business included ownership of a building. They sold the business and building to another person (owner financed) in 1983, but that person sold all of the goods within the business and it went belly-up. The three of them then gained ownership of the building again (that they stilled owed money on) but lost the money that was owed to them for the business. Due to health and financial problems, my father was unable to help his brothers pay various costs associated with the building such as taxes, repairs, and the money owed to the bank. Over a period of 15 years, his two brothers paid approximately $33,000. My father never signed over his 1/3 ownership of the building to his brothers at any time.
In 1998, his brothers sold the building for $87,000 (owner financed again) without telling my father and began receiving payments of $600 per month. My father asked several times if they had been able to sell the building. (He had moved away by that time.) They always told him no until this past October, but even then they did not tell him that it was sold back in 1998. In November of 2004, his nephew began sending him a $200 check with "gift" written on the "for" line. My father thought nothing of it until he discovered that the building had actually been sold in July of 1998, so my mom did a little internet research and discovered that some time before 1998 the building had been placed in the names of his brothers' wives. She was able to retrieve a copy of two documents. One document stated that his two brothers claimed 50-50 ownership of the building after they received the building back in 1983. In that same document it stated that the brothers had turned ownership of the building over to their wives and that one of the wives was turning over 1/6 of ownership to the other wife so that she would have 2/3 ownership of the building. In another document, the wife that owned 2/3 was then turning her ownership of the building over to her son. That son is the one that has been sending my father the $200 checks each month.
What should my father do? He never signed any papers giving up his 1/3 ownership of the building. At $200 per month, they owe him around $15,000 since the 1998 sale. He is willing to forget about the $15,000 because of the $33,000 that his brothers paid over the years, but he feels that they still owe him for his 1/3 ownership of the building and that the payments are not gifts.
Any advice on what he should do will be greatly appreciated. His health (heart) is still bad and the thought that his two brothers have treated him unfairly is not making his condition any better.
My father owned 1/3 of a business with his two brothers who also owned 1/3 each. The business included ownership of a building. They sold the business and building to another person (owner financed) in 1983, but that person sold all of the goods within the business and it went belly-up. The three of them then gained ownership of the building again (that they stilled owed money on) but lost the money that was owed to them for the business. Due to health and financial problems, my father was unable to help his brothers pay various costs associated with the building such as taxes, repairs, and the money owed to the bank. Over a period of 15 years, his two brothers paid approximately $33,000. My father never signed over his 1/3 ownership of the building to his brothers at any time.
In 1998, his brothers sold the building for $87,000 (owner financed again) without telling my father and began receiving payments of $600 per month. My father asked several times if they had been able to sell the building. (He had moved away by that time.) They always told him no until this past October, but even then they did not tell him that it was sold back in 1998. In November of 2004, his nephew began sending him a $200 check with "gift" written on the "for" line. My father thought nothing of it until he discovered that the building had actually been sold in July of 1998, so my mom did a little internet research and discovered that some time before 1998 the building had been placed in the names of his brothers' wives. She was able to retrieve a copy of two documents. One document stated that his two brothers claimed 50-50 ownership of the building after they received the building back in 1983. In that same document it stated that the brothers had turned ownership of the building over to their wives and that one of the wives was turning over 1/6 of ownership to the other wife so that she would have 2/3 ownership of the building. In another document, the wife that owned 2/3 was then turning her ownership of the building over to her son. That son is the one that has been sending my father the $200 checks each month.
What should my father do? He never signed any papers giving up his 1/3 ownership of the building. At $200 per month, they owe him around $15,000 since the 1998 sale. He is willing to forget about the $15,000 because of the $33,000 that his brothers paid over the years, but he feels that they still owe him for his 1/3 ownership of the building and that the payments are not gifts.
Any advice on what he should do will be greatly appreciated. His health (heart) is still bad and the thought that his two brothers have treated him unfairly is not making his condition any better.