Pacoima, CA asked in Probate for California

Q: . All left was a summer house in Maine. I will never go there how do I get my sister's to buy me out for my share?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Nina Whitehurst
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Answered
  • Probate Lawyer
  • Crossville, TN
  • Licensed in California

A: First just ask them. Send one of them a written offer to sell your share for a certain amount and state a date on which the offer will expire. If she does not accept, send the same offer with an expiration date to the other sister. If that doesn’t work, send an offer to both of them offering to sell half of your share to one sister and half to the other, again with an expiration date. All of these offers should be prepared by a real estate transactional attorney.

If none of your offers are timely accepted, then hire a real estate litigation attorney to sue your sisters to force the sale of the property and split the proceeds. Yes, you can force them to sell but it requires a court order.

If your sisters are smart they will realize that buying your share is cheaper than going the litigation and sale route. If they don’t have the money to buy you out, then the smart move for them is to all agree to a voluntary sale.

If the real reason is one of them wants to continue living in the house but can’t afford to buy it, then he or she might agree in writing to pay all of the utilities plus one third of the insurance and taxes and maintenance costs plus rent equal to two-thirds of market rent split between you and the other sister not living in the house. You are not obligated to agree to this, but it is an option. This kind of lease needs to be very carefully drafted and should be written by a skilled real estate leasing attorney.

Best of luck to you with working something out with your sisters. This is a very common issue with estate plans that fail to force the sale of real property and instead leave it to multiple heirs in kind. I always ask my estate planning clients how well their children get along and whether they will cooperate in the sale of the house or, alternatively, whether one of them really wants the house. We all owe it to our clients to try to avoid these issues.

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