Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

The Will needs to be probated. The court will probably have you pay rent to the estate as long as you live in the house. If you want to keep the house, you can buy your sister's share of the house. Someone needs to hire an attorney to open an estate.

You each need to be sure you understand all the options. If the home was left 50/50, then certainly your sister should be getting a benefit from her share and her own goals may impact what she may be willing to do. You do not mention if there is a mortgage loan, whether there are other assets that might be considered, whether your father had bills, and similar considerations.

The cleanest option is for the home to be sold, either to you or to a third party. For you, since your half interest can be factored into a loan application (assuming there is equity), you may be able to qualify much easier than if you were simply trying to buy a house with little money down. Speak to a loan officer about where you would fit into certain loan programs. Your sister may even consider letting you benefit from the savings on agent commissions should you be the buyer (in other words, adjust the selling price or amount due her based on the commission saved).

If you cannot immediately qualify for a loan, perhaps you can buy out your sister's interests on installments to get you to the point where you qualify. For example, if she is not concerned about an immediate chunk of cash from the sale, perhaps you can start buying her out based on a reasonable payment/interest rate with a deadline of paying off the balance in a few years, which you would then do through a mortgage lender.

If the only way to take care of your sister's interest is to sell to a third party, you should nevertheless evaluate the best way you can use what you get out of the transaction to eventually find another home. Perhaps you can buy something more affordable right away with the inheritance proceeds as your down payment funds. Perhaps you can obtain the guidance of a loan officer on what things you should do to best qualify in the future (perhaps you will be told to save the money and add some month-to-month for an eventual down payment or to pay certain debt).

Otherwise, has fair rental value been considered which would allow you to live there basically at half cost and some agreement on future costs as they arise (such as a new water heater, roof, furnace, ...)? The risk here is that co-ownership often leads to conflict and ruins family relationships. So, one of the ideas with a more firm endpoint may serve you better.

In any event, one really needs to talk through your circumstances with you to best help you and you will eventually need guidance on the estate-related aspect.