Inheritance - advice needed regarding family home and brother refusing to allow sale to go through

COB1965

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Hi Im new here.
My Father left house to 7 siblings equally. Me and my brother are executors and brother is living in the house. He is not in a position to buy out the rest of us but refusing to sell house. Can we do anything about it
 
What is it you actually want to do about it, and what would be the consequence for the resident brother?

You first need to answer that brace of questions for yourself I suggest, and gauge the level of comfort you and the remaining siblings have with the answers.
 
Yes, there's lots you can do, but all involve expensive court cases and will undoubtedly lead to massive resentments and potentially shattered relationships.

Your brother is named as an executor, but his behaviour is preventing the wishes of the decendant being carried out as per the will. Take him to court and have him dismissed as an executor. This will be an expensive high court(?) case. How do you plan to fund this? Do NOT appoint a replacement co-executor.

Now that he's no longer an executor, take him to court to have him removed, physically if necessary, from the property. How do you plan on funding this?

Place the house on the market, sell it and hopefully there's enough left in the estate to pay all the legal costs, including the regular probate costs, etc.

Any liquid assets in the estate?
 
My brother has mire or less said he is staying put and not selling the hoyse. My siblings would like their share, but I'm not sure what to do about it. Or if it is worth it. House probably worth about €190,000
 
My brother has mire or less said he is staying put and not selling the hoyse. My siblings would like their share, but I'm not sure what to do about it. Or if it is worth it. House probably worth about €190,000
Can he buy out everyone else?
 
No, that was already stated in the first post.

I would imagine that going down the court route would probably eat up half, if not more, of the € 190,000. Ask your solicitor for an estimate of the costs.

After that the six of you can decide what you want to do
 
Thank you and no he can't afford to buy anyone out. It's not even about the money but the way he had just ignored us for the last 2 years about it.
 
I would think the 7 of you would need to come together and discuss your options, perhaps with a mediator. It will take the agreement of all 7 of you to sell, so perhaps you could determine how many want to sell.
And clearly your brother is refusing to give that permission as he has no place to live if it is sold. So does he want to rent it off the other 6 of you?
As joint owners you will need to organise insurance, maintenance, tax on any rent, etc etc. maybe you could exchange all of these costs and allow your brother to live there rent free?
If he refused to agree to sell the house ownership will have to transfer into all your names, & make sure as an owner you have access to your property etc.

Alternatively if I was you and had a sibling with a bit of money offer to sell your share at a knock down price to them, take the money and walk away from the mess.

Otherwise all you can do is go to the high court, get your brother removed as co-executor for failing to carry out the wishes of the will. Then go to court to get him evicted. Then actually enact the eviction. Sell the house, pay all the legal fees, and probably end up paying more legal fees out of your own pocket.

Your solicitor will probably give you a good realistic estimate of fighting your brother all the way through the courts and how long it will take.
 
My brother has mire or less said he is staying put and not selling the hoyse. My siblings would like their share, but I'm not sure what to do about it. Or if it is worth it. House probably worth about €190,000
How much rent is he paying?
 
First things first, probate will still need to be sorted and completed, your Father's tax clearance cert sorted otherwise once your brother passes away, the whole thing will be a bigger mess.

Are there any other assets that will need to be distributed, would that give the brother an opportunity to use those assets to buy the rest of you out. ?
 
Your brother is obviously not wealthy but presumably has an income.

One solution would be that he pays a few hundred euros a month rent with an agreement to review in five years.

This number divided by six will not be very much but could do a lot to reduce resentment felt by the rest of you.
 
Your brother is obviously not wealthy but presumably has an income.

One solution would be that he pays a few hundred euros a month rent with an agreement to review in five years.

This number divided by six will not be very much but could do a lot to reduce resentment felt by the rest of you.
I think the point is that the siblings want to access the value that their deceased father wanted them to have. Value that presumably equates to a lot more than your ‘€50 a month’ idea. How the misbehaving brother feels about things is irrelevant. He’s the one causing the strife and he’s the one that needs to move out or buy the OP and the other siblings out. Perhaps as a concession you might, and I mean might, consider allowing him to buy you out over a longer, but not indefinite period, say 3-5 years? These family situations can be dreadful though. Best to park emotion and speak to a solicitor.
 
Was there an implied understanding that the brother would continue to live in the house when your father died i.e is this something he would have said regularly, but didn't feel the need to commit to a will as he never thought it would be an issue ? This kind of thing happens so often and invariably leads to family members falling out and never speaking again. I assume you want to avoid this if possible - you should all approach him and come up with some kind of plan or options where he knows he will have somewhere else to live that he can afford and is happy with post sale. If that doesn't work, he's just going to sit it out and hopefully live rent free for the rest of his life, so he'll have to deal with your solicitor
 
If there is a lesson for others out of all of this, never leave a property in your will to be shared between siblings, it is 100% going to cause issues.
Don't be sentimental and completely forget the fact that it was the family home. Always instruct that the assets of the estate be sold and the net proceeds distributed
 
If there is a lesson for others out of all of this, never leave a property in your will to be shared between siblings, it is 100% going to cause issues.
Don't be sentimental and completely forget the fact that it was the family home. Always instruct that the assets of the estate be sold and the net proceeds distributed

Hmmm


I know of a family where this was done, and when both parents later died suddenly in quick succession, the mandated immediate sale of the family home and farm culminated in the other siblings having to obtain a court order to force the eviction of the youngest sibling, then barely an adult. The youngest sibling had nowhere else to go and apart from a small inheritance, barely a penny to their name.

To make matters worse, the mandated immediate sale of the property took place when relevant property prices were in deep slump. Had the family been able to wait even a few years before selling up, they'd have at least doubled the sale proceeds.

60 years on, the ensuing family rift hasn't yet fully healed.
 
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