Long story short, we've already thrown too much money at lawyers, so we are considering no longer fighting someone who was contesting probate of my MIL's estate. This would give this person 1/6 interest.

We are looking at selling a portion of the property my FIL lives on to fund his living expenses. The property has relatively little value, but in order to sell the one portion that he isn't living on, we would have to do about $9000 in work to add utilities, demo and clear outbuildings, etc. This person has repeatedly said her contest of the probate is not holding up the sale of the property, but she will not agree to pay any portion of the costs required to prepare the land for sale. For context, if we sell it for what it's probably worth, she would probably only net $3000-3500 in proceeds from the sale.

Is there any way to compel her to pay her share of these costs. She seems to want only the interest in the assets of the estate and not the liabilities. Would we have to pay her share as a "loan" to the estate and then file a lien against the estate?

Drillbit4 said:

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I'm not a lawyer.

Is she the executor? If not, why not pay for the repairs yourself, sell the land, and net her out the amount she is due after the sale? Be sure to charge interest.

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No. She's someone who should not have any right of heirship at all, but the cost to litigate that, even if we have a high probability of winning is more than likely not cost effective, given the low value of the land. We can definitely pay the costs to prep the land for sale, but this whole thing is premised on a big "EFF YOU" to my deceased MIL. She wants to reap the rewards of my MIL's death without having to bear any of the burden. Her dispute over interest in the land has so far prevented my FIL from selling off the one lot to pay his expenses and debts, and he has been forced into bankruptcy as a result. She likes seeing my MIL's family members suffer at her hand.

normaleagle05 said:

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If she's not owed anything, and it would have to go to court to prove she is owed something, why not place the burden of proving it, and the up front cost to do so, on her?

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Unfortunately, that is not the situation, and my MIL died without a Will. We would have to go to court to have a judge rule she has no right of heirship. We firmly believe the law is on our side, but it will cost us easily more than $5,000 to get a judge to agree with us. Spending $5000 on lawyers over a $100K piece of land is not wise, unless we just want to make a principled statement to this see you next Tuesday..

Lord knows we're trying, but she's digging in because she hated my MIL. She is perfectly happy burning everything to the ground just to have the last word.

Aside from the real estate, we're telling her if she wants to be an heir so bad, then she can pay 1/3 of the funeral and burial expenses, which will exceed any proceeds she could see from the sale of the property.

She initially agreed to waive heirship until she saw dollar signs.

A side thought, are you sure the property is only worth $100k? How is value being determined. If it's land and the CAD value is being used, it could be worth a lot more. Might be willing to get legal, if it's worth more. No need to respond. Just a thought.

Exactly.

1Aggie99 said:

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I get not wanting to spend the $$ to go through courts now but IF you don't prove she has no rights now, would that mean she could return and continue being a ***** when your FIL passes? Don't know the answer but might be worth it to put her to bed once and be done vs fight this **** again.

Hopefully FIL has a will in place.

People suck!

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She's not related to my FIL, but my FIL has a Will in place now.

CS78 said:

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A side thought, are you sure the property is only worth $100k? How is value being determined. If it's land and the CAD value is being used, it could be worth a lot more. Might be willing to get legal, if it's worth more. No need to respond. Just a thought.

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Comps in the area.

Diggity said:

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could you sell (at a discount) to an investor, without making those improvements? Seems like that would be the cleanest way to do it.

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The property is three 1/3-acre lots and my FIL's house is on two of those lots. The third lot is where the driveway, water meter, sewer tap, and electrical connections. We have to establish new connections and install a new driveway for my FIL.

that's a tough situation for sure.

One could argue those improvements will be for your FIL's benefit, rather than critical to selling the third parcel.

I don't know of any way for you to force the 3rd party to share in those costs.

Seems like the others have the right idea.

Ryan the Temp said:

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This person has repeatedly said her contest of the probate is not holding up the sale of the property, but she will not agree to pay any portion of the costs required to prepare the land for sale.

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The only way out is through. You're stuck with a crappy business partner. I would just bite the bullet, get the land ready for sale, sell it, and subtract her share of costs from the gains. Force her to sue you for the few thousand dollars.

12thMan9 said:

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okay, I'll ask. Who the hell is this person? And, who is the executor for the estate?

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There is no executor because there was no Will and no assets beyond the land. This person is someone who was given up for adoption.

If your mother in law died intestate and the heirs aren't willing to go through a determination of heirship and administration, this "heir" owns an interest in all of the property? She is going to have to be dealt with regardless.

There is a difference between protecting the FIL's interests and the assets of the estate. My guess is that the plan to sell the lot, and incur the cost to do so, would greatly benefit the FIL, but not the estate. It's not an easy decision, but consider selling all three lots with the house and having he FIL buy a house with the proceeds to replace it, or buy out her interest. You may be able obtain financing via an owelty lien.

Intestate deaths with "blended" families are a mess. If your FIL isn't willing to spend the money on a determination of heirship and administration, he has to accept that she is an owner and deal with it.

Ryan the Temp said:

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12thMan9 said:

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okay, I'll ask. Who the hell is this person? And, who is the executor for the estate?

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There is no executor because there was no Will and no assets beyond the land. This person is someone who was given up for adoption.

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This is not legal advice but assuming this is Texas, a person doesn't necessarily lose inheritance rights just because they are given up for adoption.

https://raniacombslaw.com/resources/can-an-adopted-child-inherit-from-his-biological-parents#:~:text=In%20Texas%2C%20adopted%20children%20can,the%20child's%20right%20to%20inherit.

OP has stated that the put-up-for-adoption person who is holding this up isn't actually withholding the sale of the property, but just withholding sharing for any improvement costs to get the site ready for best sale price. Looks like the cash from the sale would go through the estate which is being held up. Sounds like there is some legal gray area about carrying uneven cost of the house sale forward into the estate probate. The estate might not care at all what the costs are as its just dividing up titled assets.

OP, is there a way to free up cash within the estate to pay for the upgrades to the land? Can the estate underwrite a bridge loan back to you explicitly for construction/closing costs for first lien against the land sale?

I think there is no administration of the estate so no one is appointed to act on it's behalf. I suspect they are trying to use an affidavit of heirship to establish the heirs and all must join in the sell.

In Texas when no will is present - the law is very clear on heir-ship. you have to go to court for probate and the Judge will follow Texas law. If MIL died while married to FIL, then the probate judge will grant 100% of the assets to to the husband.

case closed

I'd go talk to a lawyer. In these situations, some people talk a big game until they get a certified letter in the mail from a lawyer.

Either way, I'm sorry you're caught up in something like this.

With my experience with intestate succession in Texas, the judge is going to deny the small estate affidavit application based on the real property and the affidavit of heirship will not be enough to sell the property. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to just skip the whole probate process.

My grandmother had a spouse that died in the 1970's, two living blood children who agreed on a full 50/50 split, an old will that wasn't accepted because it mentioned the predeceased spouse thus forcing intestate succession, and the judge would not accept the small estate affidavit. Cost the family about $5k to get everything taken care of in the end.

Also, keep in mind that you cannot will away her future interest in the rest of the property once FIL passes. She is guaranteed 1/6 of 50% of the whole property if she stays a heir. You cannot partition the property to take away 2/3rds of her rightful inheritance from her mother, should she stay a heir. Realistically, you will be taken to court once FIL passes, both estates will have to be fully probated, and both estates will be on the hook for her legal fees first.

IANAA - unless this is the only transaction to which you'd concede she's an heir, it doesn't sound like this goes away. She's just going to dispute every single thing associated with the family estate moving forward.

What if your FIL needs to sell additional property as his expenses change? Based on the limited info here I'd be shocked if she didn't continue pick every fight she can in the future. Pay the $ to bury her now and never worry about potential problems down the road.

chris1515 said:

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I'd go talk to a lawyer. In these situations, some people talk a big game until they get a certified letter in the mail from a lawyer.

Either way, I'm sorry you're caught up in something like this.

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We spent $2500 on an attorney who basically took our money and did as close to nothing to resolve the issue as she could. When the person refused to sign the family settlement agreement, the attorney basically walked away and told us we were on our own.