Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
estate,probate law
cared for both parents until death in their home total of 10 years after mother passed named executor of estate myself & brother only benificiaries to small money amount and house ive lived in w/parents brother came to help ready house for sale i feel rushed want to buy him out as market is hostile to sellers he feels im living free on estate as well as insinuating ive misspent money while caring for parents and is now demanding i pay rent as well as show tax returns for past 4 years am i obligated to do so? can i request payment for last 10 years or for myself as executor if they were both in homes there would be no money for either of us will states anyone living in house when last one goes can stay as long as needed also states executor can charge rent to said person as they see fit-im the one living in house what am i obligated by law to do as executor can they take me to court want to be fair but dont want to cheat myself thank you i know its sticky
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: estate,probate law
It sounds like the house was willed to both you and your brother? If so, you are now what is known as a "beneficial owner" of the house (your parents' estate is still the "legal owner" until you clear title either by a probate or by a small estates proceeding), and so you have no duty to pay any rent (there's a California code section that deals with coowners' rights to occupy real property; I don't know the code section offhand).
You have no obligation to show any tax returns.
You probably cannot request payment for the last 10 years; if anything, you might be able to do so for the last year or two.
Most likely, you will need to file a probate petition in order to sell the house (unless the house and the money account are worth less than $100,000 together - in that case you could use the small estates procedure I mentioned). If you do file a probate petition, you can file a claim against the estate for the time you spent taking care of your parents. If you are the executor, you need court approval before you can "okay" the claim. The court will want to see fairly detailed time records before they approve the claim. If the court does approve the claim, your brother can't cry "foul".
This information is not intended to substitute for professional legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. You should accept legal advice only from a licensed legal professional with whom you have an attorney-client relationship.
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