Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Minnesota

Can I recover maintainance costs?

My wife is one of 5 sisters who have partial ownership of their mother's home through a living estate interest situation. Mom is in a nursing home and income is reduced via medical assistance to vitually nothing. 2 sisters refuse to pay any maintainance costs i.e. utility bills, insurance,taxes etc. so I have offered to Mom to take care of these costs. Can I recover these costs plus inflation adjustment at time of eventual sale of the house? How should I go about setting it up so I can?


Asked on 6/02/07, 10:55 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Sam Calvert Calvert Law Office

Re: Can I recover maintainance costs?

You may be saying that your Mom has a life estate in the home, in which case she has a percentage of ownership (DHS has a table they use to calculate the value) You might be able to buy the property from your Mom by paying some percentage of the calculated value. Mom would then use up the money you pay her. However, this is going to have to be a voluntary agreement with your sisters or a court ordered partition sort of thing.

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Answered on 6/04/07, 11:16 pm
Steven Vatndal Law Office of Steven J. Vatndal

Re: Can I recover maintainance costs?

Since your mother qualifies for MA, I assume that what you refer to as a "living estate" is an irrevocable living trust. There are several types of these that have been used in the past to qualify for MA. An attorney is going to need to read the trust document and get a few more facts before advising you on your wife's options. If you'd like to discuss this further, please get a copy of the trust document and e-mail me directly.

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Answered on 6/04/07, 7:19 am


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