Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia
Real estate ownership with siblings
My husband, along with his sisters ans brothers, were left joint ownership in their father's house when their father died several years ago. My husband took out a mortgage on the house, in his name only, to make some improvements on the house, with verbal agreement that his siblings would help him make the mortgage payments. Siblings now say they can't help with payments, so my husband and I are making the full mortgage payments. What right do we have to make siblings pay? What right does my husband have to sell the house without siblings permission? Does my husband need to have siblings sign away their ownership before he can sell the house? House is currently not worth what the mortgage amount is, so we would have to take a loss.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Real estate ownership with siblings
The agreement which you've described would appear to be covered by Virginia's Statute of Frauds concerning land and therefore would require a writing signed by the other siblings(the parties to be charged) in order to be enforceable.
Your husband under the circumstances described(absent a court order authorizing such sale in lieu of partition) would appear to have no such right to sell this jointly owed house without the permission(and signatures) of the other joint owners.
He should keep, however, a careful record of all of his disproportionate expenditures on the property(including the mortgage payments)in the event that the property is finally sold at some future time in order to present his claim for reimbursement of these expenditures.
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