Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia
My 2 siblings and I inherited 118 acres of farmland. We've had the will probated and were close to deeding the property- the estate attourney ran a report checking for anything against our credit and found >$5000 of debt owed from my brother. The attourney advised that we pay that debt before releasing the deeds. We did manage to pay that debt. The attourney has suggested that I could have my 1/3 of inheritance surveyed off before deeds are processed and I'll have my seperate deed and my brother and sister will have their deed together. We have arranged a surveyer and he is already working on the surveying.
The problem now is my sister says that it isn't fair that I have mine surveyed off and it will be cheaper for it all to be surveyed and split 3 ways. This is true that it will save her money but she has NO money. I was told it may be around 5-7 thousand just to survey my 1/3 off (closer to 10-13 thousand for all 3 surveying/separation). Now I also know that the land line is on a creek. The attourney is now checking to see if I can be seeded seperatly because he cannot put exact acreage due to surveying. (We have old survey from 1970's). Can my sister or brother hold up this process. I want to be seperated......without having to pay for us all to be seperated.
2 Answers from Attorneys
It would be improper for me to answer since you have a lawyer who has seen all the details. No one's guess, without seeing every pleading, deed, etc, will be worth anything.
Attorney Ashman, as usual, is correct. It is unfair to your estate lawyer, who has seen all of the information, and it is unethical for lawyers at some public website to interfere in that relationship.
Generally, there is no right to separation of inherited property. The land is transferred to the heirs and its up to them as to what they want to do with it. However, I can tell you from experience that it is a BAD idea for multiple people to own a piece of real property when they are not married unless all property owners can agree all the time on everything (like maintenance, taxes, insurance and use of the land).
The property either should be sold or subdivided so each person can do what they want with their acres. However, you want your piece parceled off and are only willing to pay for that. The problem with land is that land is unique and many times it cannot be fairly divided (one part may have a house or a creek or a swamp or timber).
Can your brother & sister hold this up? Sure. They can refuse to sign the deeds after you spend all of this money getting your acreage surveyed. If they do, then your only remedy would be to seek a partition of the property and have your 1/3rd of the land separated off or else have your siblings buy out your 1/3rd share. Might be the same result just making you spend even more money when all is said and done - when you look at it that way - what would a partition action cost if your siblings decided to get ugly versus giving them what they want and spending a few more dollars to have their land surveyed and subdivided. What if they gave you a few more acres to compensate for these extra costs? Of course they would have to be willing to do this.
What is the property worth? Is it vacant land? Where is it? What are the plans for it? Who paid for the brother's $5000 debt? Your sister has no money. What is her plans for the land? Is the land more valuable if sold as an intact parcel? How is your sister going to pay for her share of the taxes if she has no money?
Don't answer me - I do not need to know the answers. But you need to be thinking about some or all of these things and be discussing them with your attorney.
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