Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

You don't provide enough information to answer your question. If things were done properly in 2008 the executor of an estate should have probated the estate and probate should have been closed long ago, with the property deeded out of the estate to the three heirs. If that was done, the deceased heir's estate should also have been probated and their share deeded to you out of probate, in which case you and the third heir are 2/3-1/3 owners of the house and the fact that the third heir was once the executor of the estate is of zero relevance.

It sounds, however, like one or all of those steps have not been completed if you are still referring to the third heir as the executor. Or perhaps you are misusing the term executor and in fact the property is in a trust and the third "heir" is actually the trustee and a 1/3 beneficiary. If any of those things are true, then you have a totally different situation.

Which of these scenarios is correct also has major tax consequences if and when you do sell.

You really need to talk to a lawyer about this so you have the chance to go over all the details and get an accurate answer.

Asssuming you ultimately receive 1/3 each after the probate of other proceeding, you can be forced to sell through a partition action. They may even elect to file a partition action during the administration. If you desire to acquire the property, you may be able to purchase the 2/3 interests you do not own. This depends, obviously, upon a lot of factors, like your credit rating and ability to pay. You need to seek qualified counsel.

There's no partnership if there's no partnership agreement - a property owned by multiple parties isn't automatically a partnership, and the "majority" owner has no rights. I suspect from the context of your post that there's no partnership. All there is a real property with three owners - you, the dead owner's estate which is still in probate, and the other owner.

If this is the case then you may as well agree to sell the property - when a property is owned by multiple owners, any of the owners may force a sale in an action for partition - the court will require the sale of the property unless you buy out the other owner.

Mr. McCormick is correct in that you should get some specific advice, but chances are, you will need to come to terms with selling the property.