Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: How to force prtitioning of intestate property

Hopefully the land is going to be worth your time in getting this straightened out.

I suggest a representative committee of potential heirs meet with an attorney for a consult to develop a plan to resolve this.

Services available at a reasonable fee.

good luck to you.

Re: How to force prtitioning of intestate property

Because the land in in Virginia you'll need an attorney from Virginia to do the real estate portion of the process.

The fact that your grandparents died in PA indicates that your would look to the laws of Pennsylvania to see who inherits unless there was a will which would be probated under Pennsylvania law. Though after 50+ years you might have some explaining to the Registrar of Wills on why this wasn't done in the last century.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me. The initial consultation is free.

{John}

Re: How to force prtitioning of intestate property

Once you figure out (under Pennsylvania law) who owns what piece of the property, it is possible to file a partition suit to force the sale.

The partition process involves filing suit, getting all the heirs served (and anyone else with an interest in the property) awaiting their separate answers, appointing a commissioner to determine the fair market value, the value of any liens or claims against the property, the relative interests of the heirs based on what share they inherited and what contributions, monetary and non-monetary each has made to the acquisition and maintenance of the property, the income derived from the property over the years, whether the property can be physically partitioned, and if not whether any of the heirs is willing to buy out the interests of any of the other heirs, etc.

All that's expensive, time consuming and likely to lead to family ill will, primarily because of the expense. Try to avoid that by having all of the owners talk this through, perhaps with the help of a mediator.