Family member moving into a house that is willed 2 siblings

I am enquiring on behalf of a friend. My friend has one sibling. Her parents have willed their house to herself and her brother. The house is a very big old house and costs allot to maintain and run. Her parents are considering letting her brother and his family move into the house and they do up one of the outbuildings to live in instead as they are getting older (although nothing would be signed over). This seems to be pushed more by her older brother then her parents as he has always wanted to live in the family house. In addition his wife is expecting another child therefore they want a bigger house (which due to negative equity they cant afford). Her brother and sister-in-law made it clear that they would not be providing care to their parents as they get older but would be able to help maintain the house.

The original agreement with her parents was that if he wanted the house he would have to buy her out within a year of them inheriting it, which she was prepared to do (i.e. he would have frist dibs on the house). However the house is worth quite allot of money and given his job, it is very unlikely that he would be ever able to raise a mortgage for half the house. She is worried that if her brother and sister in law lived in the house for the next so many years, before the house is inherited, that they would establish rights to the house and in the case that he isnt able to buy her out then she would not be able to force a sale of the house? She similarly concerned that if it was to become her brothers family home that it would cause a family divide if the house was to be sold.

I have suggested she talk to a solicitor but she doesnt have one and is not to sure were to start. I also thought it would be a good idea to get some insight from this site, as some of the members might have come accross similar cases.

Firstly - she's a bit ahead of herself - her parents are still alive and still own the house and are entitled to do with it as they please. A Will is meaningless if the person making it is still alive. It may be changed before her parents die and her parents circumstances may change before they die.

If a Will has been made and it stipulates that her brother can buy her out within a year, if the parents pass away, then the ball is in her brothers court - he has a year to raise the money (if he wishes to) or else the house gets sold and the proceeds split between brother and sister. He cannot acquire ownership rights to the house in the current circumstances as he will be occupying the house 'under license' from the owners i.e. with the permission of the parents, so adverse possession does not apply.

I think the key to resolving this situation is in the executor of the Will. These circumstances require a strong neutral executor, who will not be influenced by various family members, to enforce the Will - one who is prepared to tell the brother that he has 12 months to raise the money and who is prepared to sell the house and spilt the proceeds if the money is not raised. Remember that it is the executors responsibility to ensure that your friend gets any inheritance due.

Csril,

Thanks for your response. Some very good points, especially about the executor.

The reason that my friend is looking into it at the moment is that her parents have asked her opinion on the will before her father undergoes an operation.

This one is heading for the courts by the sound of it.

Pressure from the brother to move in.

It will require a High Court intervention to move him out, whatever the will says.

He will claim that he did huge work on the house and will want to be compensated for it.

I would suggest that the parents appoint the daughter as the executor so she remains in the driving seat after the deaths of the parents.

Brendan

I agree 100% on the need to have an impartial executor, or push to have your friend be it, but that may cause hard feelings down the road. It will cost the estate about 3% of the value of the estate if your parents choose to have the solicitor be the Executor. That is what most solicitors charge. It will cost nothing if an impartial family member or friend is selected to do it. Either way, I think that it should be someone who does not have a vested financial interest in the case. My uncle chose not to go down this road when he wrote his will, and 10 years later it is still causing grief within the family.

When the parents die, and your friend forces the issue, and the house has to be sold to pay her her half share of what it is worth, that will probably cause hard feeling between her and her brother. But if he is (a) already exerting undue pressure on his parents to move out off THEIR HOME so that he can move in and (b) has already stated he does not intend to take care of them as they get older, even though they gave him THEIR HOME to live in, he is not someone I would be all that bothered about offending.

Brendan Burgess said:

This one is heading for the courts by the sound of it. ...

He will claim that he did huge work on the house and will want to be compensated for it.

...

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A major concern - the parents will have to consider what is the position regarding expenditure on maintenance. The friend could very easily find the 50% of the house becoming 25%, or even less.

Firstly your friend needs to talk to her parents so that they understand the implications of what they propose to do. If she can she should ask them to see a solicitor who can point out the possible pitfalls of their proposed course of action.

Even so, if they want to do this it is their right. But it is always best if everybody understands the repercussions of this.

Thanks for the feedback. I have past it on to my friend. She has decided to consult a solicister as her father has suggested that she do this. I think her father is concerned that she will be taken care of in the event something happens to him (as he is a good deal older then her mother). Her mother would be more easily bullied by her brother. She is also going sit down with them to make sure that they are 100% sure they want their son and family to take over the house and to go through the implications of what it would mean.

Your friends father is urging his daughter to go and see a solicitor about a house that HE owns? That is the wrong way around imo. He needs to be the one go to his solicitor and make sure that his will is written in such a way that his assets are distributed fairly after he dies, and that the executor is up to the task. If he suspects that his son will be up to no good after he dies, he needs to take steps now to counteract that. Only he can do that. There is nothing concrete that his daughter or her solicitor can do now, other than discuss things that may or may not happen many years down the road.

Has your friend considered that the father may actually want the house to go to the son but he doesn't want to tell her.

Beffers, her parents have consulted their own solicitor but her father feels that it that it would be good for her to get advice too before they discuss this as a family.

Bronte, I think they ultimately would like to keep the house in the family and therefore they would like her brother to be able to take over the house. However since her father not given an equal portion to his brother in his parents will he is adiment that the will be fair. Up to a couple of years ago, her parents had enough in shares and investiments to probably make sure that the brother could have the house be able to compensate her to the value of half the house. She thinks thats gone now, which has left them not sure how to go about splitting the estate.

That old chestnut 'keeping it in the family' leads to so many family squabbles.

It seems obvious from the fact that the father told the daughter to hire her own solicitor that he doesn't want to deal with the issue. Doesn't want to maybe tell her the truth. She should think about that, see if she can live with his decision if that is the reality of the situation and not put pressure on her parents and nor should the son for that matter. Is it likely that everyone can do that, probably not. But life is very short.

Perhaps your friend could say she has an interest in moving into the house now and to make a life for herself there, so as she doesn't have to pay rent/mortgage etc.