Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

No. She is a half owner of the property. An action to sell the house [partition] might cost about $15,000. You could try to have her buy you out or you buy her out. Since she is half owner you can not evict her son. A fair way to sell the house is that both of you write down what you would accept from the other for the sale of the property. Power of attorney's come from people.

Mr. Shers is right that the only legal way to gain control of the property is to file an action for partition. $15,000 is a reasonable estimate for a moderately simple partition action. In a partition action you will have the opportunity for one of you to buy the other out. If you cannot agree on that, then it will be ordered sold by the court and the proceeds divided between you. So if you can work out a buy-out without legal proceedings, it will just save you money. I'm confused, however, as to how Mr. Sher's idea about writing down prices would work. If neither of you would be willing to pay what the other writes down they would accept, there is no solution. A similar but much better solution would be to each write down what you would be willing to pay for the other person's half, and whomever would pay the higher amount gets it at that price.

Mr. McCormick's focus seems to be to attack Mr. Shers, rather than answering your question.

Mr. Shers assumes that you have already taken title to the house, after probate, with title held as either joint tenants or tenants in common. If you have taken title that way, and the title is now in you and your sister's name, then Mr. Shers is correct.

Your post is vague on whether or not you and your sister have title to the property. If title is still in the decedent's name (the one executing the will), and the property has not had title passed to you through probate (through what is known as a court action conveyance) then you are going to have to probate the estate of the decedent, prior to receiving title and having any discussions of a partition action.

If probate is called for, a power of attorney is not the solution. The probate court will appoint an executor or executrix, who will be given what are known as Letters Testamentary. Those letters will give the executor the power to handle estate property, including evicting tenants, cleaning up the property, and paying taxes. This power will last until probate is concluded and a distribution is made.