Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Nebraska
joint tenant
My mother and I own a house together that my grandmother gave us several years before she died (no mortgage). My mother has not helped me with taxes, insurance, or repairs since grandma died. My mother wanted her name off the house years ago and said if I took over the taxes and insurance, that I could have the house to myself. My son and two other college students live in the house. The house was not part of any inheritance for my mother (she was given over a half million when grandma died). I have put in over 1,000 hours of hard labor just to get the house to a rental stage. I have also spent around $10,000 for updates. I also have all my receipts. My mother isn�t a very nice person and hasn�t spoken to me for several years. This past Sunday, a real estate lady call me to get into the house so she could do an appraisal as requested by my mother. I refused. My mother is in her mid 70�s. The RE lady said my mother wanted to be bought out. This was never my grandmother�s wish. She made it known that she wanted the house to stay in our family and to have any member live there who needed it. What can I do? My mother said I could have her share and now that I have made improvements, she wants it back.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: joint tenant
Generally, promises made in relation to real estate must be in writing to be enforceable. This means you may not be able to enforce your mother's promise to give you her half of the house. As a joint tenant, your mother has an absolute right to have her half of the title separated from your half. In most cases, this means you either buy a quit claim deed from her at a price you both agree on, sell the property together and split the proceeds in a manner you both agree on, or go to court as parties to a partition action where the court will order the sale of the home and dictate the split of the proceeds. If you go to court, the court will take into account the investments you have made, and can prove, in deciding how to split the proceeds. Unless you and your mother can come to a written agreement, you should retain an attorney immediately.
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