Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Eviction of sister

My mother passed away in November, 2004. My sister has lived with her, along with my sister's 2 children (14 & 2). My mother named me executix of her will, which called for all her assets to be split equally between 3 children and 1 grandchild. My sister did not pay rent. When my mother got ill, I took over paying the household bills (my sister did not contribute). The three hiers have been trying to get my sister to move out. There's still a mortgage on the property. When faced with foreclosure, the estate refinanced the house to pay off the existing mortgage and have some money to keep the mortgage up to date, so we won't face foreclosure again. We also took enough money to give to my sister so she could pay for a place to stay until the house sold. We only gave her a portion of this so far, based on her promise to move. Bottom line is she refuses to move out. There's about $3,000 in utility bills, plus the mortgage that's being paid by the estate each month. We were taking her to court to have her evicted and we were just notified she had it moved to housing court. Our lawyer says she's a tenant at sufferance, so she has no right to stay. If that's the case, why are we in housing court. Does this found right?


Asked on 6/12/05, 2:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Re: Eviction of sister

Any tenant has the right to ask that an eviction proceeding be heard by Housing Court. While housing court tends to be a little more tenant friendly, they follow the law and the rules.

I hope this was helpful.

Read more
Answered on 6/12/05, 6:03 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Probate, Trusts, Wills & Estates questions and answers in Massachusetts