Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Sharing an estate

If she is soon going to get over $400,000 no one is going to work pro bono for her, especially since it appears this matter will take some tie to resolve with an overly aggressive, not entirely honest brother and a perhaps naive, somewhat passive sister.

What reason has the brother given for her not being entitled to half of the profit on selling the home? How does he justify his getting more than she does [he could reasonably argue that she owes him half of the rental value of the home, but then that might make her a tenant under the strict local rent control laws and if there is eviction only for good cause she might be in a position that she can not be forced out of the home; but you need a local attorney to know that].

She can merely refuse to sell and then he would have to bring an action for partition that might cost him $10-15,000 or more. After a partition sale, the profits would be divided equally. Did her parents promise to pay her for taking care of them? The estate will have to be probated if there is more than $100,000 in assets. For income tax purposes, their may be no taxable profit, as the portion own by the deceased gets a stepped up basis to what it was worth on the person's death.

She does need to see an attorney who does estates and trusts work. An attorney will probably defer their fees until she gets some money from the sale of the house.