Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

Re: Eviction from co-owned house by sister

One of the most common "messes" legally is when a relative dies. In my experience, it seems as if very few people do the right thing legally. Most of the time, people do this all wrong.

You say that the estate is still being settled, but you did not say who is the "executor" (called personal representative in Virginia). Someone must go to court and be appointed executor. And then the executor must file an inventory of everything owned by your father with the Commissioner of Accounts in your County, and must report everything that happens.

When your father died, everything owned by your father comes into the control of the "executor" (personal representative), who speaks in the name of your father as if he or she were your father. HOWEVER, the executor must obey your father's wishes as expressed in the will. The executor acts as a trustee for the benefit of the heirs, not for the executor's own desires or wishes. The personal representative is NOT free to do whatever he or she wants, but only what your father wanted. The main test of what your father wanted is what his will says, if he left a will. (Of course I would imagine that your father did not want you to drink too much or to damage the house.)

Several things are true: (1) You cannot damage the home, of course. If you are renting from a stranger or living in a house co-owned like this, you are responsible to pay for any damages to the home. (2) However, when you are one of the heirs who will co-own the home, and your father allowed you to live there, I do not believe the executor has any legal right to throw you out. The executor can make you PAY for any injury or costs, and you are responsible financially for any losses. If you are using the house and the other heirs are not, the executor could make you pay rent, because it is not equal. (3) It is very important what your father's will actually says. Depending on what the will says, it may be necessary to SELL the house and divide the money among the heirs, after paying all his debts. The executor would then have a right to ask you to move out so that the house can be sold. Even if there is no will, the situation may call for selling the house and dividing the money. (In fact this is more likely if there is no will to say what to do with the house.) You should have a right to buy out the other heirs and keep the house, if you can pay them. But this must follow the right rules and laws, and your father's will, not just what someone wants. Finally: make sure someone looks at the DEED for your father's house. Rarely there can be legal details in the deed which control who gets the house after he dies.