Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Connecticut

Re: House in Tenants in Common

Unfortunately, when your mom added your brother's name to the house as a tenant in common (TIC), she gave him one half interest in the house. The only way to get him off of the deed would be for him to sign a deed, giving his interest back to her.

The upside is that, as a TIC, he does have a duty to maintain the property. He does have to pay his share of utilities and taxes and repairs. He still owns his 1/2 interest as TIC, but he is liable for 1/2 the cost of maintaining the property.

Your mother can ask him to quitclaim his interest back to her. (Not sure if that is realistic. She would be the one to judge whether that is realistic.) Other than that, she can sue him for his share of the cost of maintaining the property. My guess is that there is a reasonable approach to resolving this, if both sides are talking about the issues, without having to sue one another.

Has your mother explored any estate planning approaches? It sounds like she wants your brother to have a place to live, if something were to happen to her, but that she doesn't want to give away the farm too early. Your brother might be willing to quitclaim his interest back to his mother, if he knows he's protected later. How about a living trust for your mother? She could even put aside money to maintain the property, since it doesn't sound like your brother's going to.