Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Alabama

My mother died on 5/17/2011 and as far as we can tell she left no will. She owned 180 acres of land in Alabama with 2 houses on the property. One she lived in at the time of her death, the other was the old house she grew up in and was built during the civil war. The 2 homes are very close to each other. There are four children, one of us is in prison for life w/o possibility for parole. The other three of us had a verbal agreement to let one brother receive her car, I would receive the house my mom lived in and the other wanted the old house to fix up. After the truth came out about the molestation of myself by the brother who wanted the old house, he denied that it was true, (even though I have a hand written letter from my mother stating she knew about what happened and wanted me to keep quiet) he now says he wants my moms home. The lawyer we hired was named the Administrator and has not replied to any of our emails on this matter yet. We live in Louisiana and the property is in Alabama. My brother is very well off and is trying to buy the house with his own money to keep me from having it. And is only offering $20,000. If he owns the house I will not have any use for the 45 acres that will be mine. Does the verbal agreement have any validity at all? He knew I needed a place to live and is trying to keep me out of the home. He's a very nasty man full of vengeance for me. What he did to me as a child ruined my whole life. And he's still trying to dominate over me. I dont know what my options are to fight this. I fear i may have to sell all my land and just take what little I get. Someone please help me. Is there anything i can do??

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!


Asked on 10/22/11, 10:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Dean Stein Harville-Stein Law Offices, LLC

You really need to hire counsel of your own, soon. Without a Will, you each own 1/4 of everything. The Administrator can force a sale for division, but you should have an equal chance to buy any of the property. If you can show separating the house from the acreage decreases the value of what is left, that is, it should be sold as a package to bring the highest price, that may prevail in Court. Working in this matter without your own counsel, when an attorney is the Administrator, does not seem advisable.

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Answered on 10/22/11, 10:47 am


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