Inheritance Question

[bears]

Did the sister charge her mother to build on her land?

[readyin07]

Oops meant to post this elsewhere!

[readyin07]

Jan 30, 2018 21:25:18 GMT -5 bears said:

Did the sister charge her mother to build on her land?

Not that i am aware of.

[jinkies]

There is usually a burden in being the child who takes in an aging parent, even if they are living in a separate home on your property.

I know nothing about these specific people, but it is often a lot of work to have a parent that close, and it is work that the other siblings often don't see.

So, no. I don't think X should have to compensate A.

I bring some baggage to this question, though, so maybe in their specific situation things are different.

[livinitup]

Who owns the house? It’s on sister’s property, but is it an asset of the deceased mother’s estate?

All things being equal, if this house was built with the deceased mother’s savings and was owned by the mother, then it is an asset of the estate and should be split equally by her heirs. If it is not sold, then the value needs to be assessed and sister/property owner needs to pay other sister her due share, her “half” of the value - and get the house in her name, legally. .

If the house was built on the sister’s property, owned by the sister, with mother’s savings - then it’s owned by the sister. It was a gift to the daughter while she was alive and able to make such gifts to whomever she chose. What the sister does to be “fair” is entirely at her whim.

[UMaineTeach]

I don’t think the property should be split or compensation should be given.


H and I have gotten into arguments about this topic about an older man with cancer who was forced to move from his childhood home he lived in his whole life when his mother died because the brother needed to sell and split the money instead of letting the man keep it. Then the man had to move out of state, away from friends, to live with his child because the profit from the house wasn’t enough to live on. H thinks splitting was totally reasonable and I think it was selfish and cruel.

[readyin07]

Jan 30, 2018 21:48:36 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Who owns the house? It’s on sister’s property, but is it an asset of the deceased mother’s estate?

All things being equal, if this house was built with the deceased mother’s savings and was owned by the mother, then it is an asset of the estate and should be split equally by her heirs. If it is not sold, then the value needs to be assessed and sister/property owner needs to pay other sister her due share, her “half” of the value - and get the house in her name, legally. .

If the house was built on the sister’s property, owned by the sister, with mother’s savings - then it’s owned by the sister. It was a gift to the daughter while she was alive and able to make such gifts to whomever she chose. What the sister does to be “fair” is entirely at her whim.

I am not 100% sure. My guess would be that nothing legal was done in terms of ownership and the mom just paid to have everything built. Good reminder to have your shit in order. This has really caused a rift

[sonrisa]

Stay out of it.

Mom should have written a will if she wanted things to go other than intestacy laws. IF those laws include a claw back provision for recent gifts, so be it. If not, then that's the rub.

There are so many factors you may not know about. Sister B may have paid some of mom's living expenses. she probably did more of the end of life care if mom was on the property. Mom may have only contributed a minimal amount of the construction costs - perhaps less than the rent would have been if Sister B has rented the same unit out.

An inheritance isn't love. Fighting over it as a proxy for mom or mom's attention will just leave everyone angry.

[readyin07]

Jan 30, 2018 22:23:32 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Stay out of it.

Mom should have written a will if she wanted things to go other than intestacy laws. IF those laws include a claw back provision for recent gifts, so be it. If not, then that's the rub.

There are so many factors you may not know about. Sister B may have paid some of mom's living expenses. she probably did more of the end of life care if mom was on the property. Mom may have only contributed a minimal amount of the construction costs - perhaps less than the rent would have been if Sister B has rented the same unit out.

An inheritance isn't love. Fighting over it as a proxy for mom or mom's attention will just leave everyone angry.

Oh I am not in it. I am friend with A. But I can see a lot of what x is saying so I just wanted to get a read.

[y4m]

Seems to me like A isn't considering the costs to X that occurred while mom was alive... X was providing land to mom free of charge while she was living right? And possibly taking care of mom as well. The math doesn't start at "she could charge rent for it!"

[readyin07]

Jan 30, 2018 22:40:58 GMT -5 y4m said:

Seems to me like A isn't considering the costs to X that occurred while mom was alive... X was providing land to mom free of charge while she was living right? And possibly taking care of mom as well. The math doesn't start at "she could charge rent for it!"

I should have added that their mom never needed taking care of. She wasn’t “elderly” and sadly passed after a short illness and was only in the hospital during that time. If anything her living there was helpful to X because she had an on hand babysitter. I don’t know that that adds to the conversation.

[krystee]

Is X open to having the house appraised? Say it adds $50k to her house value--would she agree to split the rent profits with A until A was given $25k? Or allowing A to have whatever is left in the estate first up to that $50k (for example purposes)?

That is what I would do if I were X. That said, even if she didn't need actual care, I am sure X spent a good deal of time with her, gave her land to build a house on, etc., and there is a value to all of that. For that reason, I would not expect an exact split if I were A.

[readyin07]

Jan 30, 2018 23:06:15 GMT -5 krystee said:

Is X open to having the house appraised? Say it adds $50k to her house value--would she agree to split the rent profits with A until A was given $25k? Or allowing A to have whatever is left in the estate first up to that $50k (for example purposes)?

That is what I would do if I were X. That said, even if she didn't need actual care, I am sure X spent a good deal of time with her, gave her land to build a house on, etc., and there is a value to all of that. For that reason, I would not expect an exact split if I were A.

It has been appraised and she is not open to any of the above. She doesn’t have the money to pay A upfront (and I think that is unfair to ask) and the estate was not big enough for that anyway.

[livinitup]

Jan 30, 2018 23:08:43 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Jan 30, 2018 23:06:15 GMT -5 krystee said:

Is X open to having the house appraised? Say it adds $50k to her house value--would she agree to split the rent profits with A until A was given $25k? Or allowing A to have whatever is left in the estate first up to that $50k (for example purposes)?

That is what I would do if I were X. That said, even if she didn't need actual care, I am sure X spent a good deal of time with her, gave her land to build a house on, etc., and there is a value to all of that. For that reason, I would not expect an exact split if I were A.

It has been appraised and she is not open to any of the above. She doesn’t have the money to pay A upfront (and I think that is unfair to ask) and the estate was not big enough for that anyway.

It’s perfectly fair for property owner sister to get a mortgage on the house that was built with mom’s money and use that mortgage to pay sister her half of the inheritance. Presumably and likely, the value of the house will only increase AND it’s been noted to be a revenue generator as a rental. People do it all the time to prevent the sale of an inherited home. Legally, you don’t just get to cry poverty or “I don’t wanna” when other heirs are entitled to their fair share. All that said, was the house built ‘free and clear’ , no mortgage? If there was a mortgage, who would pay that now?

It was poor planning on mom’s behalf to invest a significant amount of her savings into this property with zero attention to the most basic legal realities. Of course if property owner sister gifted her mother the land on which it was built - and that should be considered. It may even present a hefty tax burden for the property at re-assessment time. It could also have been a “gift” to one sister and not the other - tough luck.

As poor a planner as mom was to navigate and make decisions on her estate, I find it hard to believe that a house was built with no title of ownership. There must be some county record that places ownership either as the mother or the property owner/sister. Lack of planning aside, there must be some legal realities right now.