An 82 year old woman owns a house. I looked up the lot and block (here in NYC) and she is the only name on the house. Her children and grandchildren are not named with her. Only her. Many years ago she drew up a will that indicates after she dies, the house will be left to one daughter (who lives with her), one son (who lives in the basement with his wife, and never paid a dimes rent in 20 years that they live in the basement) and her two adult grandchildren. So the house will be divided among 4 people after she is gone.
The son in the basement says 'That’s not going to happen, the house is going to my sister and me and that’s it". He believes he is entitled to half the house not 1/4. And he refuses to let her sell the house now saying 'I’ve been here 20 years and I’m not moving anywhere"
My friend (the 82 year old) doesn’t remember if this is a life estate or a trust or whatever. She just shakes her head and goes 'All they want is my house"
So can the son be right in this matter, or, as the will states, does the house get sold and divided 4 ways?
Questions that involve legal issues belong in our In My Humble Opinion forum. As the forum name implies, any responses you get there are just the opinions of some folks on the internet and should not be taken as the equivalent of professional legal advice.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
It’s her (the 82 year old) house. She can sell it and spend the proceeds if she wishes to do so. She can devise it as she sees fit. For that matter, she can destroy her old will and have a completely new one drafted, assuming she is competent. The son can challenge the will after her death if he wishes, and he may or may not be successful.
If the will is the only controlling document, and you’ve described it correctly, and grandma does nothing else to change anything before she dies, then the 4 named survivors will jointly own the house. That does NOT mean it will be sold and the cash proceeds divided.
Once the probate is over the four people will have their names on the deed of the property. What they do next is decided by them, not by the will.
They can agree to sell it. Or three of the four can agree to donate or sell their shares to the guy now living in the basement. Or they can all move out & run it as a rental property, etc. They can come up with any arrangement they want.
Or they can never agree and spend the next 20 years suing one another to try to force their will on the others.
Bottom line: It’d be nicer for all concerned if grandma was together enough to mediate & resolve this dispute while still alive. But some disputes are simply too nasty for anyone to resolve, much less a frail forgetful old lady. Good luck.
This same thing is going on in my family. If your situation is like that, what will happen is:
One party will act however the hell he wants to act.
The rest will use legal means to prevent him from his theft.
Years will pass, as the estate’s assets are slowly funnelled to lawyers.
In the end, the family will get much less than they bargained for, and possibly nothing.
She should hire a local estate attorney to review the matter and advise her.
Forums on teh intrawebs working on second hand information cannot provide a reliable analysis given the possibility of a remedial constructive trust claim, an unjust enrichment claim, a claim based on capacity, or whatever else might be lurking down there in the basement.
The one thing on which we can all agree is that the son does not get to decide on his own how his mother’s estate will be divided. Beyond that, it’s not as clear as it might be how this will play out.
The son presumably will argue that, by living in the property rent-free for so long, he has acquired adverse possession (which you know as squatter’s rights) of an interest in it, or a prescriptive easement to remain there. Whether or not this claim is successful, it’s probably strong enough to tie the property up in litigation for an extended period of time. Your friend could weaken this claim by sending him a letter (with a copy to her lawyer or named executor, as otherwise the letter will probably disappear) saying that he has been living in her home with permission and that he has permission to continue living there until her death or until such time, if earlier, as such permission may be revoked. This would show that the son’s possession is not adverse.
Note that it’s going to be important who is her named executor, as that person will need the fortitude to address what will probably be a very difficult situation over time. Hopefully the son is not the one named.