We want to buyout our mother, but her name must remain on the dead. How can we make it so that she has

Question

My sister and I each inherited 1/4 of a vacation property in Brigantine NJ upon our father’s death. Our mother owns the other half. My sister and I have been paying the mortgage for 5 years now and we want to invest a large amount of money on repairs and improvements. We want to buyout our mother’s equity ownership, but her name must remain on the deed because we can’t get a mortgage. We have the funds to buyout her equity, but we can't get a mortgage to buyout the remaining loan balance because the property is a duplex, not our primary home, and below flood level. And supposedly the current mortgage can't be assumed while our mother is still alive. 
 
Our concerns are: 
1) our mother has another son who is an heir to her estate. We don’t want him to have claim to the equity that we’ve built 
2) we don’t want to pay inheritance taxes on our own capital expenditures upon our mother’s death 
 
How can we make our mother 1% owner? Is there a better solution? Do we need a lawyer for this?

Leonard R. Boyer · Answer

Your question is far too fact specific and beyond the scope of this forum. Your situation will require an in person consultation and detailed analysis. This is beyond the scope of what most attorneys would handle in a free consultation. This is a very complex situation, more so than you probably realize.

Bruce Alexander Minnick · Answer

I agree with Mr. Boyer's excellent advice. In addition to his observations, I will only add that you have presented at least four interrelated questions that will require at least 25 hours of very important legal work that very few (if any) lawyers will want to do-- especially for free.

Q: We want to buyout our mother, but her name must remain on the dead. How can we make it so that she has < 1% ownership?