Sibling Won't Vacate Parental Home for Estate Settlement?

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graphix1

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North Carolina
My mother passed away several years ago and my father passed away 1-1/2 years ago. Years before my mother passed after another failed marriage my adult sister moved in with them. My mother had POA ready for my dad (with dementia) so my sister and myself were co-POA but could act independently (big mistake). I live in another state and before dad passed my sister spent +$50K of my dad's money on herself and also continued to use my mother's credit card for almost a year after she passed and used my father's account to pay for it. Now both parents are passed and she and I are co-executors with 40% each in his will and our kids are 10% each. BIG problem is my sister is still living in the house rent free. Has been 1-1/2 years and she still hasn't moved and she's a major hoarder. We have already spent +$30K on attorney fees which has only netted us filing of the estate inventory and an agreement on how much my sister will pay back. We did get a limited POA that allows me to sell the house without her input BUT realtor and everyone says house has to be vacated before anything can really happen.

The estate is really not worth enough to justify the expense of trying to get her removed as co-executor and evict her but not sure what other options there are. Can we sell the house with my sister still residing in it?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated as the entire family is trying to get closure with this. Thanks
 
Can we sell the house with my sister still residing in it?


I think YOU answered your own question, mate.

\/ \/ \/ \/LQQK BELOW \/ \/ \/ \/

We did get a limited POA that allows me to sell the house without her input BUT realtor and everyone says house has to be vacated before anything can really happen.
 
Not knowing real estate law we didn't know if there was a way we could sell the house with her still residing in it. Was thinking of just giving someone a bargain deal, signing over the deed and then they can just send the police in to remove her as she had no right to be residing (squatting) there.
 
It can be sold while she's living there... but for far less than if it were emptied out.

You can petition to partition.

A neighbor's estate was settled this way. One child had moved their family in to mom's house to "help" her. Really it was an excuse to walk away from their house (foreclosure), so there was no way that child could buy out the interest of the other children. The photos posted were so bad it looked like their elementary school kid took them - out of focus, tilted exterior photos and dirty cluttered interior photos. (Visibly dirty full trash cans should not appear in bedroom photos!) In spite of their best efforts to avoid the house changing hands, it sold... for below market value. It has since been cleaned up (those partially detached gutters were finally removed) and flipped.
 
Thanks Red Kayak (and I have a red kayak, too, and wish I was out paddling rather than dealing with this stuff). Not sure what "petition to partition" means, can you elaborate?

Also, my sister has used and abused everyone in the family, especially our parents and she had tormented her son so much he had a lot of things he had to wrap his head around once he was an adult. She even had him convinced he was the one holding up the estate. Not a real ethical thing to do but curious if this would be a legal thing to do. Sell the house to someone trusted for peanuts, have her removed from the house and settle the estate. Then have the house cleaned up, sell it for proper housing value and split the proceeds between myself, her son and my kids and exclude her. Like I said, not an ethical thing to do but with the POA for the house it says I can sell it and sign for her.
 
Sell the house to someone trusted for peanuts, have her removed from the house and settle the estate. Then have the house cleaned up, sell it for proper housing value and split the proceeds between myself, her son and my kids and exclude her. Like I said, not an ethical thing to do but with the POA for the house it says I can sell it and sign for her.

Do that and you violate your fiduciary duty to the estate and your sister, and will pretty much guarantee she'll sue you over it. You cannot cut her out of her share of the estate, which is what this scheme would do.

The estate owns the entire home, so a partition action is not needed nor appropriate here. Your problem is not a dispute over selling it. Your problem is getting her out. If your lawyer cannot do the eviction action needed to get her out, find one who can. That's the only way you are going to force her out. Another option, if she's willing, to pay her some cash to move out. Make sure that the offer is she gets the cash only AFTER she's moved out and removed all her stuff from the place if you go that route.
 
Was thinking of just giving someone a bargain deal, signing over the deed and then they can just send the police in to remove her as she had no right to be residing (squatting) there.

I've learned many useful things over the course of the decades I've lived.

In some cases, this would be one for me, I'd quitclaim my share of the estate to her and wash her out of my mind and my life.

Life should be enjoyed, not fraught with fights, squabbles, etc...

You've lived all of your life without an inheritance.

Do you really need to get in the gutter with your squatter, freeloader of a sibling?

Been there, never tried it, this fish wasn't biting, he just walked away.

I loved my mom and dad.
I miss each of them daily, and its been years since they departed this planet.
I'm the little pig who built a brick home.
I am not the two other pigs who did little, but expected much.

You seem to be like me, mate, an independent guy.

Let the greedy squatter have it all, and you'll walk away oozing dignity, pride, and common sense.
 
realtor and everyone says house has to be vacated before anything can really happen. Can we sell the house with my sister still residing in it?

Sure.

But it's likely to appeal to an investor who will offer 25% to 40% less than fair market value because he knows how much it will take to evict a hostile occupant and rehab the house.

The realtor wants the house empty and presentable to maximize the sale price and the commission.

Does your sister understand how much money her recalcitrance will cost her?

an agreement on how much my sister will pay back.

Well, how much does she have to pay back in relation to her share of the estate proceeds? If her debt seriously reduces her share of the estate proceeds it may just be worth her while to stay put until the estate negotiates something that will give her a reasonable amount of cash.

She may just hold all the cards.
 
Thank you all for your input and although my sister would stoop to very, very, low morals to keep her free ride going, even if everyone here said 'go for it' I probably still would not have done it. If anything I would have done the first step to get her out, sold the house and distributed the shares as per the will.

I worked my way up to a senior automation design position without college, grinding through the ranks of machine shops. I got custody of my kids in my divorce and proudly raised them, coached them, and saw them grow up with children of their own. I consider myself of high morals which makes it hard for me to grasp the mindset of those who are not (i.e. - my sister).

There is less than $100K in the accounts and the house is worth about $200K. I do not need the $$$ but my kids and her son could most definitely use their share and they would be the ones reluctant to walk away from this. It just seems so unjust to have someone like her who always dumped her son off with my parents (he and I treat each other like brothers as we were raised by the same people), faked all kinds of problems to get on disability (trust me on this, it's fabricated and her son would attest to her methods), fraudulently used her deceased mother's credit card, stole from her father's account while he was in a memory care center, disrespects my parent's house with her mega-hoarding way and letting her dogs live and defecate in the house, and she can just walk a free ride and control the whole situation while everyone else sits back and watches. In some ways it's more stressful to know she's getting away with this than it would be relief to wash our hands of it.

From what I understand the only way we can get her out is to petition the courts to remove her as co-executor, then go through the legal process to evict her. We unfortunately hired a "recommended" attorney who has strung this out to over $30K in fees while doing very little, to have them do this would cost us at least that much again. Meanwhile she has a small town attorney that was my parent's attorney, probably not charging her 1/10th of what we have already paid.

Ugh.... stressed out just typing that.
 
What's happening with your sister is not uncommon. In fact, we see stories like that here all the time. Immoral people seem to be the rule in this country nowadays rather than the exception.

Deadbeats with nothing to lose, unfortunately, have a great deal of power over people who are required to take proper and often expensive legal action. I know all about that. I had rentals for a long time decades ago.

I'm sympathetic but I don't have any magic words for you.

As for your lawyer, fire him and file a fee dispute.

Fee Dispute Resolution Program | North Carolina State Bar (ncbar.gov)

Maybe you'll get some of that money back.
 
There is no such thing as co-executors that can act independently. When co-executors are named in a will each must sign contracts, open or close bank accounts, file for probate. It's not one or the other. It's both unless one abdicates or has the written permission of the other to take action.

It's always a bad idea to appoint co-executors.

But the fact remains that you can't do anything about the estate without your sister's permission or a probate court order.

I live in another state and before dad passed my sister spent +$50K of my dad's money on herself and also continued to use my mother's credit card for almost a year after she passed and used my father's account to pay for it.

A POA is no longer in affect after the person that issued it dies. So all the credit card charges and money paid from your father's accounts could be recovered if you choose to do so.
 
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There is no such thing as co-executors that can act independently. When co-executors are named in a will each must sign contracts, open or close bank accounts, file for probate. It's not one or the other. It's both unless one abdicates or has the written permission of the other to take action.
Do you have a legal cite that shows that a will cannot name co-executors and grant independent powers to each?
 
There is no such thing as co-executors that can act independently. When co-executors are named in a will each must sign contracts, open or close bank accounts, file for probate. It's not one or the other. It's both unless one abdicates or has the written permission of the other to take action.

Perhaps there is a state out there that has such a rule, though I'm not aware of one. As it relates to this thread, what you stated is not true in North Carolina. NC statute defers to the will regarding the division of powers among joint executors. Specifically, NCGS 28A-13-6(b) states:

(b) If a will expressly makes provision for the execution of any of the powers of personal representatives by all of them or by any one or more of them, the provisions of the will govern.

(Bolding added.) As you can see from what I bolded, the statute allows for the will to give powers to just one of the executors if that's what the testator wants. So it is important to read the will first to determine what powers each executor has. In NC, if the will does not specify what each executor may do, then it provides that the executors may by written agreement divide up certain powers between them, and all others must be done by both of them (if there are just two executors) or by a majority of them (if there are more than two).


It's always a bad idea to appoint co-executors.

Not always. There are circumstances in which it does work quite well and may be necessary. I've been the lawyer for estates with two executors that went very smoothly. But it is true that it can also be a source of a lot of problems, too, especially when the two co executors have a history of conflict or have competing interests. I always counsel clients considering having more than one executor about those potential problems and encourage them to pick just one executor, but in the end it's the client's call what to do.
 
There is no such thing as co-executors that can act independently. When co-executors are named in a will each must sign contracts, open or close bank accounts, file for probate. It's not one or the other. It's both unless one abdicates or has the written permission of the other to take action.

While it might be true that the nominated co-executors need to file a joint petition to probate the estate, this is otherwise absolutely wrong. How do I know it's wrong? Among other things, I was co-executor of my mother's estate, and the court order that appointed my sister and me expressly authorized independent action.

It's always a bad idea to appoint co-executors.

So...you know better than the thousands of judges that have done this?

That said, it's often not a good idea, but it's hardly a universal truth.
 
We are co-executors and CANNOT act independently. My sister signed a limited POA for the house so I CAN act independently selling the house. We "WERE" co-POA's over my father and it was written so we COULD act independently which is when my sister stole his money. Never said we were co-executors and could act independently.

Thinking about telling her attorney if she's not out of the house by the end of the month we will do whatever is legally necessary to have her removed as co-executor and evicted and sue her to recover legal fees in doing so. Or sell the house at whatever discount is necessary while she still resided there. Either will cost all the beneficiaries but especially her.

This has dragged on long enough and really do not see her moving without being forced. If we do head this way we will part ways with our attorney, file a fee dispute and find a better (less expensive) attorney to proceed with.
 
Don't see how you could have co-executors that can act independently. With the POA there was a requirement to provide accounting for all expenses and since my sister was where my dad is and I'm in a state 700 miles away, she was taking care of the bills.... until she realized it wasn't just him she could spend his money on. +$50,000 on herself later she thought that was perfectly fine doing that (even though the first month she started it I informed her she wasn't allowed, same with my deceased mom's credit card). It only took 16 months for her to provide her version of the accounting (even though her addition was off by around $15,000). I got the bank statements and accounting took me 2 days.

When my dad was doing bad in the memory care center I requested she start clearing her stuff out of his house so we could sell it in case we needed the funds for his care. That's when she hired an attorney to prevent me from trying to get her to move out allow her to stay in the house saying my 90 year old father (who could barely get out of bed) might want to go home to visit. Yeah.... right....

She's just milking this for every day she can so she can not pay rent or a mortgage in her own place. Really disgusting.
 
Don't see how you could have co-executors that can act independently.

That's easy to explain. Co-executors who can act independently are not co-executors they are just executors, each with a different set of duties. When they share a duty they are co-executors.

"I appoint John as my executor for the limited purpose of selling my house and my personal property."

"I appoint Mary as my executor for the limited purpose of paying bills, administering accounts and distributing funds."

"I appoint John and Mary as co-executors for duties other than the above."

To be semantically correct, co-executors cannot act independently, executors can.
 
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