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 1. Home
 2. Personal Finance
 3. The Moneyist


THE MONEYIST




‘NOT ONE SIBLING WANTS TO PONY UP THE MONEY TO PURCHASE THE PROPERTY’: MY FATHER
OWNS A FAMILY HOME WITH 3 SIBLINGS. HE SPENT $100,000 ON RENOVATIONS. CAN HE
FORCE THEM TO SELL?

Last Updated: June 15, 2022 at 3:53 p.m. ET First Published: June 14, 2022 at
12:22 p.m. ET
By

QUENTIN FOTTRELL

  comments


‘HERE’S THE BIGGEST PROBLEM: MY DAD’S OTHER BROTHER SOMETIMES SLEEPS AT THE
PROPERTY, BUT HE MOSTLY USES IT TO STORE ITEMS FROM HIS JUNK-REMOVAL BUSINESS’

‘THE KIDS OF THE OWNERS HAVE THE RIGHTS TO THE PROPERTY. THEY EACH HAVE 25%.’

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DEAR QUENTIN, 

There’s been a property in our family going back decades. It was actually split
into four equal parts among the original owners, who have now all passed away.
So the kids of the owners have the rights to the property. They each have 25%. 

My grandma and her son (my uncle) were living there rent-free for decades until
my grandma passed away a couple years ago, and now the other family members want
their part of whatever the value of the home is. 

My side of the family has six siblings. They had a meeting as to what to do with
the property. Two options: 1. Sell the property and split the proceeds. 2. They
pool their money together and buy the property from the rest of the family. 


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The only problem: Not one sibling wants to pony up the money to purchase the
property. One of these siblings — my uncle — still lives at the property, lives
off Social Security (about $800 a month), and really has no desire to have any
type of job for an income. 

“‘If they sold the property, my uncle would have nowhere to live without money
to support himself. And he would be extremely unhappy with some type of small
apartment.’”

If they sold the property, my uncle would have nowhere to live without money to
support himself. And he would be extremely unhappy with some type of small
apartment. In essence, my dad was the only one with financial means to purchase
the property to keep it in the family. 

My dad has put more than $100,000 into it so far. He’s going through all this
trouble of contacting long-lost family members to get their signatures for his
purchase of the property in exchange for the money due to them from the
property. 



Here’s the biggest problem: My dad’s other brother sometimes sleeps at the
property, but he mostly uses it to store items from his junk-removal business.
So the property is pretty trashed. Apparently he doesn’t make much profit from
the junk-removal business, so it would be difficult for him to pay my dad any
kind of rent.

He’s borrowed lots of money from my dad and other family members throughout the
years. My dad’s patience with him is wearing thin, and he wants his brother to
get a real job, as opposed to trying to run a business while trashing the
property. 

My dad just wants the property clean, so he can eventually take out a loan to
build a house on the land so he can resell it.

Frustrated Family Member



DEAR FRUSTRATED,

First of all, never put $100,000 of your own money into a house that (a) you
don’t live in, (b) other people use for accommodation and/or storage and (c) is
owned by several people, many of whom don’t have the money to buy you out. I
understand that spending money on this home will help it maintain and improve
its value, but that increased value will likely be split equally among the
owners if and when it’s sold. Your father will have an uphill struggle to get
that money back.


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The problem is: Your uncle who lives there has all the reason in the world to
welcome renovations and make his/their home more comfortable, but there is not
much reward in giving up that home and renting a smaller apartment. He loses the
security of being able to live there rent-free and being the proverbial cog in
the wheel, preventing the property from being sold with the proceeds being split
among his siblings. It’s a tough spot.

“Your father’s dilemma is the result of bad estate. Leaving a house to multiple
siblings will stoke long-held resentments, and cast an unflattering light on the
gap in their financial lives.”

If he does wish to sell the home rather than allow this to linger for years, he
should do his best to contact the other owners to convey their wishes to sell or
not. Given what you said about the other siblings using the property for various
purposes, he is unlikely to reach a consensus. As such, he can take a partition
action to force his siblings to sell their share. The court will decide if there
is a strong reason to sell. This could be an expensive and bitter legal
challenge. 

As the Law Offices of Weiss & Weiss state in this blog post on the subject of
partition: “When two or more owners cannot agree on the disposition of the
property in question, any of the owners can file a partition action in the
appropriate court.” And what if there is someone living in the property? “A
person remaining in possession does not have the right to block the potential
sale of the property simply by virtue of living at the property,” the firm says.


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There may be an inquest: “Each co-owner is given the opportunity to provide
evidence of their contributions to the upkeep of the property, such as payment
of real estate taxes, insurance, and property repairs, and any income they may
have earned from renting the property,” the firm adds. “A court-appointed
referee then issues a report to the court that details what each owner should
receive from the property sale, incorporating the evidence from the inquest.”

Your father’s dilemma is the result of bad estate planning by your grandparents.
Leaving a house to multiple siblings will surely stoke long-held resentments,
and only cast an unflattering light on the gap in each sibling’s financial
lives, exacerbating any pre-existing tensions. This is where co-owners could
take nefarious actions, like turning off the water and electricity, in a
dastardly effort to smoke out the other co-owners.

Selling the house then or now would prevent that.  

Check out the Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to
life’s thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of
dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or
weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.

The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

By emailing your questions, you agree to having them published anonymously on
MarketWatch. By submitting your story to Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of
MarketWatch, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of
it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

Also read:

‘I respect every profession equally, but I feel like so many people look down on
me for being a waitress’: Americans are tipping less. Should we step up to the
plate?

‘I’m being taken advantage of by my own husband’: I pay the bills and gave the
down payment for our home. All he does is buy stuff and contribute to his 401(k)

My parents-in-law sold their home and bought an RV. They have $200K in the bank.
How can they protect their assets from being used for nursing-home costs?


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DOW, S&P 500 SNAP 5-DAY SKID AFTER BIGGEST FED INTEREST RATE HIKE SINCE 1994

HOUSING MARKET IS COOLING AS AN ESTIMATED 25% OF HOME LISTINGS CUT THEIR ASKING
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READ NEXT


MY PARENTS-IN-LAW SOLD THEIR HOME AND BOUGHT AN RV. THEY HAVE $200K IN THE BANK.
HOW CAN THEY PROTECT THEIR ASSETS FROM BEING USED FOR NURSING-HOME COSTS?

‘If my father-in-law has to go into a nursing home and his assets are
surrendered for his care, his wife has no income.’


MORE ON MARKETWATCH

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   worry.’ My 401(k) has lost over 20% and I can’t afford to lose that kind of
   money. Is it time to find a new adviser?
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   2000. Here’s what that means for house prices
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   asking prices: ‘We’re shifting from a real buying frenzy to much more normal
   conditions’


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Quentin Fottrell


Quentin Fottrell is MarketWatch's Managing Editor-Personal Finance and The
Moneyist columnist. You can follow him on Twitter @quantanamo.



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