Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Real estate
Our family home, which my mother lives in, was deeded to us siblings (5) by my uncle after my father died. The home was in my uncles name when my parents bought it and was never transferred to my parents name. My parents divorced before my Dad died and the issue of the title to the house was not addressed. The verbal agreement we siblings along with my uncle had was that Mom would live in the house for the rest of her life and when she dies the house would go to the siblings. My uncle was going to set up a living trust with these conditions. Instead my uncle just transferred title to us siblings, and now my brother wants his share of the value of the house. He doesn't care if we have to sell it in order to accomplish this, leaving my Mother with no home. Does he have the legal right to force us to sell or give him his share of the house?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Real estate
It sounds like a "constructive trust" resulted by virtue of the oral agreement (and everyone's conduct up until now). If he tries to force a sale through a partition action, your mother can respond with the constructive trust defense.
Re: Real estate
How is the home titled now? What I would guess is that he is going to file a partition action and force the sale to get his share. Unfortunately, he can do this, but in order to get your mother out of te home he will have to give her proper notice to evict and then file an unlawful detainer action. Since (I can only assume) the other siblings will not agree to this, he will lose the UD action, but the partition one...you might have a problem there. Of course the new owner would also have to go through the same process to evict your mother...and it is unlikely anyone would purchase the home with her still living there.
I think this is a tangled web that will wind up in court. Your best bet is to buy him out, if possible. Otherwise, I suggest you be prepared to retain counsel and hunker down for a battle.
Too bad your uncle did not do the trust, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
I do have a couple of ideas, but not ones to share in an open forum.
If you would like to discuss this matter further in a more private forum, please feel free to contact me directly at the email address provided by LawGuru or through our firm�s website located at PasadenaEstatePlanning.com
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