Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Will never submitted to court

Have you actually been appointed executor by the court? I assume you have not and you mean that you have been named the alternate executor under the will. If the will has not been submitted to the court for a year, your brother has lost the right to be the executor. You can now petition the court to be appointed executor. Once you have been appointed executor(depending on your relationship with your brother)you can get permission from the court to sue him for lost rent and to evict his mother-in-law unless she starts to pay rent. You should also close your mother's account and place the money in an estate account where you can control it for the benefit of all of the beneficiaries and creditors of the estate.

If California is owed an amount equal to 1/2 the equity of the house, you might try to negotiate a discount based on the fact that there won't be any money left to pay them after estate expenses and the costs of selling the house (the only way you can raise the money to pay off the state is to sell the property, they may consider a 5 year payment plan, but the interest rate will be higher than current mortgage rates).