I never understand why people assume that. Imagine all idiosynchrocies, character faults, and petty bullshit squabbles you have seen in your family while growing up. Your brother the perpetually unemployed loser, idiot cousins, golddigging aunts, your sister the crackwhore, uncle Jake the stockbroker who never comes to family events. Now imagine these people asked to share some small fortune based on their honor.
I’ve never seen any of those things in my immediate family. The only ones who fought were my mum and dad (who have been divorced since I was 9).
- Tell your (stubborn but lovely) Dad firmly not to go up on the roof alone.
(My beloved mother at the age of 83 was still trying to change light bulbs at her house. I lived around the corner and had told her I would happily do it. I had to threaten to never visit her again before she would stop.
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Since your Dad will do all the work for free, then the money-grubbing sisters will never pay him anything. Sadly this is basic human greed.
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Inheritance does bring out the worst in people.
My Dad was executor for my great-aunt, who had practically nothing. My parents were the only ones who visited her in the final years. She left my Mum her ‘jewellery’, consisting of a single brooch worth £20 ($30).
There was a blazing row :smack: when several relatives demanded a share of the jewellery (they knew what it was worth).
But parents often think their children will be better than that. Parents don’t always have an unbiased view of their children’s ethics, or how well their children get along, just like they don’t always have an unbiased view of their children’s intelligence.
The children may have even kept the sibling infighting where their parents didn’t have to see it, both as children and as adults. I learned early on that I was likely to be punished if I dragged Mom or Dad into every trifling disagreement I had with my sister. I suspect my parents aren’t the only ones who didn’t want to hear it when their kids were disagreeing.
You dad sounds like a nice man, but he also sounds like a big dummy, and movies to the contrary sweet trusting dummies are usually ass raped by life. He needs to get an atty that specializes in real estate and get to the bottom of his rights in this scenario. Operating from desperate, near willful gnorance is not going to get him much traction in this situation.
Is the property worth enough that the will needs to go through probate?
Full stop.
There are three questions here that need to be answered.
First, let’s talk about the 5 acre gift. There are two ways for this question to go, either he has the deed to the 5 acres with his name on it and only his name on it, or he doesn’t. If he has a deed with his name on it, then he owns it free and clear. The will cannot go back and undo the transfer of property. Instead, the estate had 25 acres to dispose of, instead of 30.
Secondly, I assume that the will has already gone through probate. 3 years is a long time. If it hasn’t gone through probate, the estate should be hiring workers and such, not dad.
Finally, the title to the 25/30 acre plot, according to the OP, is in the names of the children. There is no executor or anything else, it’s just property owned by 3 joint tenants.
In any case:
Adverse possession can never apply.
It requires:
* Actual possession of the property
* Open and notorious use of the property
* Exclusive use of the property
* **Hostile or adverse use of the property**
* Continuous use of the property
Since dad owns either the 5 acres tract and 1/3rd of the 25 acre tract, or he owns 1/3rd of the 30 acre tract (not 10 acres, 1/3rd of 30!), he can never ever have hostile use. Another word for adverse use is trespassing. You cannot gain adverse possession through permissive use. We don’t even need to go into timing, because you cannot adversely possess land that you own. End.
The doctrine of waste is what would apply here, since dad is a co-owner of the land. (Unless it’s still in probate, which would moot all these property claims and would cause a lot of issues to open up.)
So get a lawyer, soon. There is also a second lesson to take from this, which is “Don’t make family members executors”. Someone who doesn’t understand tax and property law can fuck things up royally and cause lasting disputes between family members. If nothing else, an independent executor will at least give everyone else a target.
Ah. I misread your previous post as saying adverse possession can never apply in the US.
^^This
I was wondering precisely the same thing myself.
It sounds like your dad is keeping up the place to his standards, but that doesn’t mean anything about what his sisters standards are. Do his sisters care about the place at all? It sounds like they just want to get their money. And that is fine. Maybe they are okay with selling the place as-is and taking less. Your dad is not out of line with how he thinks the property should be maintained. However, he should not expect his sisters to feel obligated to contribute to the upkeep.
It would be interesting to hear the sisters perspective. Maybe they’re upset with your dad for trying to get the place perfect before putting it up for sale. If all they want is a quick buck, then getting it perfect may not be important to them.
If that’s the case, then maybe your dad can buy them out. He should only do critical maintenance like fixing leaks but not do superficial things like mow and paint. Then when the place looks crappy, put it on the market. However, have your dad have the option of first right of refusal where he can buy the sisters out for their share of the offer price. That way if someone says they’ll buy it for $X, your dad can instead take full ownership by giving each sister $X/3. Now your dad can do whatever maintenance he likes and put it back on the market. Then when it sells for $X+$Y, he gets to keep 100% of the extra $Y from his labor.
My grandmother was the executor for her mother’s will. Unbeknownst to anyone in the family, she decided to ignore the provision of the will that divided up the property equally among her mother’s grandchildren, and instead divided it equally among the great-grandchildren (me and my cousins). This went undiscovered until my grandmother became incompetent, some twenty years later, and my mother and aunt found the old will in her papers. My aunt, who had fewer children than the other grandchildren, was royally pissed, but of course there was nothing to be done at that point.
Just a couple of points, with the understanding that IAAL but not yours’ and you and your dad should consult your own attorney, etc:
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Adverse possession most likely will not work. While it is available in the US, it generally requires the claimant be on the land for 20 or so years. Since your grandfather passed only 3 years ago, your dad would have another 17 years before he could claim that he possessed it adversely.
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The problem isn’t with grandfather’s will, it is in not updating the will as he said he’d do. Let that be a lesson. Everyone should have an up to date will.
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Your dad should considerr filing a claim with the executor of the estate for the value of his lawn cutting services rendered.
My Mother In-Law is the executor of her Mother’s will, but all of her siblings are dead. She consults with lawyers and accountants about the strict letter of divvying up everything equally. One of her brother’s wives liked to live beyond her means and wanted to get something, but the will stipulated that if the children were not alive it went to the grandchildren, not to the spouses.
He is the executor.
Grandfather gave him the 5 acres 20 years ago. He has been maintaining and using it as though it were his for 20 years, and has even built a house on it.
I was wondering the same thing. If the Aunts were posting their own thread I wonder if their OP would begin “Our father left 30 acres to be divided equally between the three of us, but our brother wants an extra five acres to “compensate” him for the work he did around the place because our father kindly let him live there. He is making unreasonable demands for maintaining the place, wanting us to put in to buy him a new $5,000 lawn mower (!) because he mows the lawns. We offered to pay for a $1,500 lawn mower (which is an awful lot of money for a lawn mower) but apparently that’s not good enough. He does do a lot of work around the place, even going up on the roof to do repairs, although that worries me because he has vertigo and knowing him I bet he does it on his own in the rain without a harness, but he’s a grown man so there’s nothing I can say about it.”
There are two sides to every story. I’m not doubting the facts as you’ve laid them out, but everyone casts themselves as the hero in their own life story and it wouldn’t take a great stretch of imagination to see how the Aunts could feel like they were the ones being taken advantage of, or something. And legitimate gripes about the inheritance aside, they are not to blame for your Dad’s reckless roof repairs. He’s 61 years old, and knows better.
OK - firther clarification.
The 5 acres was deeded to my father waaaaay back in the day. He has lived their for decades.
The will DOES read that the 5 acres should be counted as part of my father’s 1/3.
Subsequently my grandfather said in exchange for years of work maintaining the farm he would instead divide the remaining 25 acres in 3, and let the original 5 be in appreciation of his labors over the years.
The will was never changed to reflect this.
My dad has been doing the extra work because a) he doesn’t want to see the homestead go to seed and b) he is hoping the sisters will honor my grandfathers unwritten wishes.
Dad WAS executor of the estate, but the estate is closed. Now he is 1/3 owner of the land.
So Dad was foolish from the beginning. But he was hoping to not go all legalistic and expecting that the sisters would do the right thing. He should have been up front from the start.
What exactly do you mean when you say “deeded”? Was there any paperwork involved in this, or are you using “deeded” to mean “told it was his”?
Do they do property taxes where your did lives? Was the property tax assessment made on the five acres separately from the other twenty-five, and if so, was the bill for it made out with your father’s taxpayer information, of your grandfather’s?
It looks like your dad might be the outright owner of the five acres.
Probate lawyers: what is the effect on a will if some of the property in question has been disposed of without the will being updated?
Alternatively, what is the effect on the will if it contains a provision for taking and bequeathing property on which the decedent has no valid claim?
newcrasher, I notice that a lot of the early responders to this thread are in OZ. Where are you, please?
It sounds like he has a claim to that 5 acres. He should argue that it’s not part of the rest of it. It’s not his Father’s 5 acres to will to anyone so it should be irrelevant. If the Will did not reflect the change of ownership of that 5 acres then wouldn’t the part covered under the Will default to the part still owned by your Grandfather when he died?
I don’t understand this whole philosophy of “not getting all legalistic”. This is a sizable asset in dispute. Just because you have a genetic connection to the other parties, that should prevent you from having a professional give you advice on your rights?
I think one moral of the story is “if it’s not in writing, it didn’t happen”. I mean my aunt “promised” me her Upper East Side appartment when she dies, but we’ll see about that.