# brother won't pay for my share of house



## mary12

My parent's died over a year ago and there was no will left. My brother is living in the family house. As there was no will we decided to get the house into my brother's name and also my two other sister's name as well. As there are four of us that would mean we would be entitled to a quater share each. We got the house valued as paart of the process and it was values at two hundred euro's. The thing is i don't want to get the house into my name, instead i want ten thousand euro's for my share, and i would sign my share over to my brother since he is living in the house. My two sisters paid 2,500 euro's each to help my brother out and he is suppose to pay the remaining 5,000. The thing is the solicitor is now ready to draw up the papers in order for me to sign my share over to my brother, but my brother says now he will not pay the 5,000 euro's. Any advice would be very helpful.


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## dazza21ie

You can always give the €5,000 euro back to your sisters and get the house registered in the four names. If he changes his mind in the future you can transfer your share then.


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## sam h

Am I right in saying you are offering him your 1/4 share of the house worth €200,000 for just €10,000 and he won't give it to you?

There is no need for you to get the house in your name, the administrator needs to distribute the funds...it is possible for you to agree to the above, but there is no obligation on you to do so.  And if your brother can't/won't, he can be forced to sell the house to realise the cash.  
Why not talk to the solicitor and say that you aren;t signing anything until he has provided the cash?  You seem to have made a very genorous offer which your brother is throwing back in your face !


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## mary12

I will hold tough for another while in the hope that he might change his mind. The solicitor  agrees that i should not sign over to him if he is'ent willing to part with 5,000 euro's for half of the house .


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## mary12

The solicitor said it would cost alot more money to do that.


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## dazza21ie

sam h said:


> And if your brother can't/won't, he can be forced to sell the house to realise the cash.


 
Who and how can he be forced to sell?


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## dazza21ie

mary12 said:


> The solicitor said it would cost alot more money to do that.


 
It will cost more in legal fees but it would mean that the property is transferred over into at least 3 of the correct names. 

You are the one giving your brother a gift valued at €40,000. If he doesn't want to take it then thats his problem.


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## sam h

> Who and how can he be forced to sell?


 
This was the parents home which, as they died intestate, is the equal property of each of the children.  Therefore the OP is intitled to 1/4 as are each of the siblings.  So either it is sold & split or someone buys the others out - if they can't buy them out, the property should be sold by the administrator/executor....with or without his permission.   Appear the OP doesn;t want to do this (their decision)


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## dazza21ie

sam h said:


> This was the parents home which, as they died intestate, is the equal property of each of the children. Therefore the OP is intitled to 1/4 as are each of the siblings. So either it is sold & split or someone buys the others out - if they can't buy them out, the property should be sold by the administrator/executor....with or without his permission. Appear the OP doesn;t want to do this (their decision)


 
This is assuming that the brother isn't the administrator! In any event there is nothing to suggest that any of the family want the property sold.


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## PM1234

Has your brother said why he won't pay €5000 or does he see the house as his entitlement (as he is the one living there).  If the house is transferred into four names, should he marry and have a family (unless this is already the case), complications will arise when he needs you and your sisters consent to use the home as security.  Is he aware of the complications which will arise? Would he be willing to see a solicitor who would explain the implications of his inaction?

If the home is transferred into three names, the above will apply regardless. Perhaps he realises this and he doesn't see the advantages/value of a three way instead of a four way split? Is there anyone (not involved with the family) who may be able to reason with him?


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## mary12

Thanks for your responce. no my brother is not married, he dosen't see it like that, he just thinks he should have the house  because he is living there and not have to pay anything.


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## Brianne

If your parents wanted your brother to have the house , then they would have made a will and left it to him. You are being treated badly by your brother, I think you are being very generous to him and he is not grateful. Can he not afford to buy you out or is just being awkward?
If it doesn't matter to you , maybe it would be better to just leave it as it is and get your name on it. But if this isn't what you want, well then you must get good legal advise and be prepared to take him on. It all depends really on what you want. However , if you feel that you will always regret this then you have to seriously think about your options. In the meantime, withdraw your offer to your brother, he doesn't appreciate you.


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## eileen alana

mary12 said:


> Thanks for your responce. no my brother is not married, he dosen't see it like that, he just thinks he should have the house because he is living there and not have to pay anything.


 

Your brother doesn't seem to understand the legality of the situation, you are all entitled to your fair share of inheritance.


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## seantheman

just hypotetically, if the 3 girls lived abroad and the son stayed at home looking after the parents for years, would aam'ers feel that he morally(if not legally)would be entitled to more than a quarter share if his parents died intestate? i'm not suggesting for a moment that it's the case here


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## sam h

> This is assuming that the brother isn't the administrator! In any event there is nothing to suggest that any of the family want the property sold.


 
I believe there are legal recourses to ensure that the estate is administered in a manner that is fair to all the benificiaries, so even is he is the administrator, this should not affect the others getting what is fair to them.  As I said above, it appears the OP is happy not to sell the home & just wants a nominal amount for their share of the property, yet the brother appears to be unreasonable.



> just hypotetically, if the 3 girls lived abroad and the son stayed at home looking after the parents for years, would aam'ers feel that he morally(if not legally)would be entitled to more than a quarter share if his parents died intestate? i'm not suggesting for a moment that it's the case here


Hypotetically, we could come up with various situations (eg-brother lived at home & never did a tap for the parents, should he get nothing???)....the OP appears to have good reason for foregoing their share for a nominal amount, which is their decision.  
The courts are full of caselaw that is not morally correct, but legally is.  (Personally, I would have no problem with a sibling who cared fulltime for a parent/s to receive the family home)


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## nesbitt

Hi Mary12,  I would now re consider the situation you are in.  You are asking for a lot less than you are entitled to and your brother refused.  As I understand from other posters advice you are entitled to on quarter share of the equity of the sale of the house and indeed the sale can be forced.  Force the sale and get your proper inheritance.  You are entitled to your inheritance for you and anyone that you care for.  Toughen up and go get what is yours.  There may come a time in future that you regret not doing this. Good luck.


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## Vanilla

Why are you only seeking 10k instead of your share under intestacy?


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## truthseeker

Vanilla said:


> Why are you only seeking 10k instead of your share under intestacy?


 
Im interested in the answer to this one myself.


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## mary12

Hi vanilla, cause his my brother and i don't want to go to hard on him, theres no way he would ever be able to come up with 40k.


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## mary12

nesbitt said:


> Hi Mary12, I would now re consider the situation you are in. You are asking for a lot less than you are entitled to and your brother refused. As I understand from other posters advice you are entitled to on quarter share of the equity of the sale of the house and indeed the sale can be forced. Force the sale and get your proper inheritance. You are entitled to your inheritance for you and anyone that you care for. Toughen up and go get what is yours. There may come a time in future that you regret not doing this. Good luck.


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## truthseeker

mary12 said:


> Hi vanilla, cause his my brother and i don't want to go to hard on him, theres no way he would ever be able to come up with 40k.


 
But if the house was sold and you all received equal share would he not be able to use the money as a deposit for somewhere else? Or rent?

I assume he is an adult? Is there any particular reason why he gets special treatment?

You are entitled to your share of the inheritance - you may regret not taking it later on in life.


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## mary12

Hi nesbitt, i know i am, but if i asked for my share , i know there is no way he wouls ever be able to afford it, and as for as the house is concerned we  would never sell it while my brother is living there. My sisters and myself are all living away from home and i just think it would be unfair to sell it form under him.


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## Serenity1

Mary12 i feel for you.  You are tyring to do something good and your ungrateful brother simply feels entitled.  I think you would be doing him a favor by selling it from under him.  Then he would have to face the real world and learn you do not get anything for FREE especially a house.  What a spoilt brat.


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## aircobra19

mary12 said:


> My parent's died over a year ago and there was no will left. My brother is living in the family house. As there was no will we decided to get the house into my brother's name and also my two other sister's name as well. As there are four of us that would mean we would be entitled to a quater share each. We got the house valued as paart of the process and it was values at two hundred euro's. The thing is i don't want to get the house into my name, instead i want ten thousand euro's for my share, and i would sign my share over to my brother since he is living in the house. My two sisters paid 2,500 euro's each to help my brother out and he is suppose to pay the remaining 5,000. The thing is the solicitor is now ready to draw up the papers in order for me to sign my share over to my brother, but my brother says now he will not pay the 5,000 euro's. Any advice would be very helpful.


 
Is there a specific question? Is it financial or legal?


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## mary12

As i don't want to get my name in the house, is there anything i can do if he refuses to pay the 5,000 legaly


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## aircobra19

If you don't want to sell the house. I'm guessing no. 

Why fall out over 5k when you giving him 50k. Its doesn't make sense. 

Your brother knows is pretty certain none of you will sell the house from under him and so feels has no reason to give you 5k.


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## sam h

Unless there are some other circumstances (such as bad health, learning difficulties etc)that you feel your brother should be getting the house for (almost) nothing, I reckon you could be doing him a disservice - he will going through life with one of those "I deserve it" attitudes.....he needs to earn it!

He is slapping you in the face after you have made a VERY genourous offer to sell him your share for just €5000 (as you seem to indicate your sisters paid the rest).

As a minimum I would not sign over the house & I would clearly outline what your other options are (even if you don't plan on following through).


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## WaterSprite

sam h said:


> This was the parents home which, as they died intestate, is the equal property of each of the children.  Therefore the OP is intitled to 1/4 as are each of the siblings.  So either it is sold & split or someone buys the others out - if they can't buy them out, the property should be sold by the administrator/executor....with or without his permission.   Appear the OP doesn;t want to do this (their decision)



Really, the above says it in a nutshell.  Your brother has two fairly simple choices - either pay the €5k or else the house will be sold and proceeds divided.  You will never see the €5k if you sign over the house to your brother now.  This sounds like a terrible situation and you are clearly trying to be nice about things.  But when someone has two choices, one if which means they get an extra approx €50k portion of a house for €5k, and they refuse it, then you have to stick up for yourself and go the other route.  

Can your sisters pay you the full €10k that you want and take 50% each of your portion?  I'm presuming that you don't want to be listed on the deeds as you want to retain FTB status - is that right?  

From the wording of your first post, it sounds like there's no enforceable agreement for your brother to pay the €5k.  So to answer the initial question, it doesn't look (to me) like you can enforce it.

I can understand you wanting to do your brother a favour, but really does he deserve it?

Sprite


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## Hasslehoff

The longer this goes on the larger the wedge driven in to the family, not a good situation. If your brother received the house (worth 200k) he would certainly be in a position to obtain a mortgage because he would have so much equity in the property.
Even if you agreed to sell it to him for a lower amount it only increases his equity.

I would try and set up a family agreement and offer him the house at a knock down price say 130k or whatever price he can obtain a mortgage but 130k would seem small. if he does not bite well then leave him there, as caretaker to your share and he will eventually have to face the music, either buy you out or forced to sell, just assert you rights as owner in order to stop adverse possession. 

I have to say if this guy was a member of my family and for 5k he wants to cut his nose to spoil his face , drive a wedge into the family, well then let him. He will soon be back.


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## aircobra19

Very generous giving someone 50k considering they won't give you 5k.


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## ACA

> *Originally posted by mary 12*
> theres no way he would ever be able to come up with 40k.


 
Quarter of €200k is €50k....

You could get your name on the property along with your 2 sisters and your brother and just leave it stand for the time being, assuming that you don't need the money for something.

Personally if it was me doing that...I wouldn't be feeling as accommodating in the future when brother decided that he wanted to buy my share tho!


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## aircobra19

I think I'd do the same. Just get all 4 names on the property and leave as is. 

Maybe you need the 10k though....


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## rmelly

mary12 said:


> Hi vanilla, cause his my brother and i don't want to go to hard on him, theres no way he would ever be able to come up with 40k.


 


> Quarter of €200k is €50k....


 
Do you have 1 brother or 2?


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## mary12

Yes i could do with the 10k- but if he dos'nt pay the money i will get it into my name as well, at least that way i wont loose out if it is ever sold down the lines, thanks to every one who replied for the sound advice.


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## seantheman

mary12 said:


> Hi nesbitt, i know i am, but if i asked for my share , i know there is no way he wouls ever be able to afford it, and as for as the house is concerned we would never sell it while my brother is living there. My sisters and myself are all living away from home and i just think it would be unfair to sell it form under him.


 hi mary12,
is it the case that your brother feels that he deserves a greater percentage of the house ownership because he lived with/cared for your parents while you and your sisters lived away?


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## trailite

Your story is exactly the same as mine.

Three siblings left house by uncle.

Two siblings live in same town. He still talks to one sister, (part owner)
but ignores me and cut off all contact with me. I am the bad one for going after him. (in his mind)
However
I  live away from Ireland. , so it makes it difficult for me to pursue this.

The brother lives in the house.(in south)
west.
We had it rented outside the family, then he moved back to Ireland and
right into the vacent house. (tenent moved elsewhere)
Brother agreed to same rent, and eight years later has not paid one penny. He has all sorts of excuses for not selling and paying us our share.
He is in his 50s and would not get a mortgage I guess at his age.

Went legal for a while, letters, demanding he vacate, all ignored. My sister 
and I did not want to have to force sale but were willing to do so until brother took ill. We had to back off.

 Just finished paying legal bill of
1000 Euro for legal work, all to no avail. 
Next step would have been to take him to court. That would have meant retaining a barrister. (with upfront retainer) of 2000 Euro, more legal bills, and at the end the house (value about 160,000)
would it be worth taking him to court, name in the newspaper, and a hopelessly divided family.

Keep in mind, adverse possession. Otherwise known as squatters rights.
In our case, we only have four years to sort this out, or he gets full ownership of the house. He has already lived there for eight years now.

I don't know what we can do. He is our brother, and we never thought he would be capable of doing this to his sisters.
If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Last count I was out
15,000 Euro alone in unpaid rent.
Hope someone can learn from this.


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## csirl

> Keep in mind, adverse possession. Otherwise known as squatters rights.
> In our case, we only have four years to sort this out, or he gets full ownership of the house. He has already lived there for eight years now.


 
Best way around this is to grant him an license to occupy the house. That way the siblings still own it indefinately and when the brother eventually dies, then the siblings or their children will still inherit their portions of the house.

One way of dealing with things effectively is for the siblings to collectively hire a solicitor who will deal directly with the brother on behalf of the siblings. That way none of the individual siblings have to negotiate or argue with the brother thus creating bad feeling - allows the siblings to keep themselves at arms length from the process. The solicitor will be instructed to go along the lines....."unless this is sorted out, the inheritance law means the estate has to be liquidised and divided amongst the beneficiaries etc........you siblings are willing to grant you a license to live in the house......if you dont agree before the statutory deadline for distributing the deceased assets, then they will automaticlly be liquidised. 

Might also be a good idea to add rent to the license to ensure you get some return - something to bargain with in any negotiations - can agree to drop or reduce in exchange for brother signing license in good time.


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## mary12

I think  because he has lived there all his life, and never moved away from home he thinks he should have the house to himself. Also there is a yard there where he keeps all his tractors that he bought over the years. As for caring for our parents  we all helped out with that part.


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## csirl

Does he work? i.e. would he be able to get a mortgage?


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## mary12

csirl said:


> Does he work? i.e. would he be able to get a mortgage?


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## mary12

Yes he is as agricultural contrator, he already owes a lot of money for the tractors he bought, so he says there is no way he is getting another loan.


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## foxylady

mary12 said:


> Yes he is as agricultural contrator, he already owes a lot of money for the tractors he bought, so he says there is no way he is getting another loan.


 
If  I  was you I would be looking for the 50k that you are entitled to and not a penny less, your brother is acting like a spoilt brat and needs a reality check. I have a younger sibling who possibly think like this but there is no way if the event arose I would be so lenient. 
You also have to think if it was you still at home what would your brother be looking for from you?


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## DeclanP

I know in my own situation that my unmarried brother is living at home with our mother and if she left the home house jointly to us all, it would present a very difficult situation for my brother who wouldn't be in a position to buy us all out — even at a knockdown price. I understand you have entitlements and others have suggested the legal route, but don't destroy family relations over it. Yes, you are entitled to your share but where's the rush?!


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## tink

Yes, but just because you live at home doesn't mean it is a necessity, it could be for any number of reasons therefore what on earth is the problem with telling him to be a grown up and sell the house and split it 4 ways as parents intended. The rest of the family more than likely have mortgages of their own and Im sure 40k would be just as helpful for the rest of them. From the sounds of it the brother isn't interested in the family relations side of it - just living scott free in the family home ! He can use the 40k as a deposit and get a mortgage like everyone else !


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## Frasier

Do you believe it was the wish of your parent(s) to leave the house to your brother or that you would share it equally.

I had a conversation with some friends and their parents recently.  The youngest son lives in the house and the other children own their own homes.  The other children suggested to the parents that they would like the youngest (who was not present) to have the home when that time comes and would forgo their interest.

The parents where adamant that they did not want this to happen as they felt it would not be in the best long term interest of the youngest.  They felt he should learn to stand on his own two feet just like the other children had to.


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## FKH

trailite said:


> Keep in mind, adverse possession. Otherwise known as squatters rights.
> In our case, we only have four years to sort this out, or he gets full ownership of the house. He has already lived there for eight years now.



It sounds like he is not in adverse possession. The house is presumably in three names and he agreed to rent same from you. You agreed that he live there and gave him permission  (subject to rent) which would negate a claim for adverse possession. You could consider issuing proceedings for non-payment of rent to see if he defends same.


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## seantheman

tink
telling him to be a grown up and sell the house and split it 4 ways as parents intended
cant remember the op saying anything about the parents wishes


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