Personal property in estate being retitled..

Question

My moms well stated that my dad is to be her agent but if not that my sister myself or my brother Can be. My brother past away and I wasn’t included in the “PR”. Only my sister was. She has donated some of my mom’s vehicles paid off her truck and is in charge of all the accounts. I wanted to move into my mothers house which was always our plan and they will states that if one of us lives in there we only have to pay $500 a month towards the upkeep of the home & then we can sell it after five years. That’s what I want to do but my sister said that I couldn’t & she has placed it for sale & wants me to sign a piece of paper saying we can sell it.  There’s $50,000 from insurance policy and all debts paid. She says that she can’t give me any money from the estate until she closes it and she can’t do that until she sells the house and I have to sign this piece of paper. But she has retitled the truck that was paid off in her & her husbands name. But it is left to both of us.

Mark Oakley · Answer

You need to have a lawyer review the will, the inventory and the accountings filed in the estate, before any useful advice can be provided.  The estate may not have the funds to maintain the house (mainenance, utilities, property taxes, homeowner's insurance, mortgage, etc.) for five years, so that may not be a viable option, and deeding the property to the two of you is the other option, and as equal owners either of you can ordinarily force the sale.  The truck title transfer to the PR is self-dealing, and would have to be reviewed (both under the terms of the will, and as a partial distribution of your sister's share to be deducted from her share of the entire estate).  You are abe to file objections to actions of the PR, in the form of written motions, that are ruled upon by the court.  Legal counsel will cost you money, so you need to decide how much you are willing to spend to contest what your sister is doing.

Q: Personal property in estate being retitled..