Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Louisiana

I am executor of my parents estate. 8 children total. 4 from mothers previous marriage (1 which cannot be found),3 from this marriage. All but one of the 7 are willing to sign their portion of estate over to me since I paid off mortgage and taxes since death and continue to live in the residence. What type of legal action can be taken to either force complete sign over or force sale of the property and residence and what portion would each recieve if I can provide evidence of financial records of payments of mortgage etc...


Asked on 7/04/10, 5:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Nick Pizzolatto, Jr. Pizzolatto Law Office

I would have a couple of questions. Why did you individually pay off debts that belonged to the estates, and subsequently to the heirs? At the moment of death, the persons who will inherit, either by will of intestate become owners of the property and of the debts, so no one can disturb their ownership. They can, however, renounce their interest in the estates. Second question is why weren't the debts paid from the assets of the successions? Assuming the debts could not be paid off by liquid assets, then you could have asked for the sale of the assets to pay the debts. An executor (trix) in only necessary if there are assets that need to be protected, and if there are no businesses or investments that must be managed, an executor is unnecessary. The heirs should have simply been placed in possession of the assets and debts and those who wanted to accept the debts could have. Since you have paid off the mortgage and taxes, add yourself as a debtor to the estates and place them in possession. I think you first have to place everyone in possession so that you can now ask for partition by sale in order to pay the debts.

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Answered on 7/05/10, 7:06 am


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