Full question:
My mother left the house to three grandchildren. Do I include the house in the inventory to send to Court? If two wish to keep the house and one wants to sell, and the one that wants to sell get a court order saying they do not wish to be a cotenant; will the judge order the house be sold?
- Category: Wills and Estates
- Subcategory: Probate
- Date:
- State: New Jersey
Answer:
It is one of the executor’s duties to prepare and file an inventory of all
property and interest of any kind belonging to the estate, listing the
appraised value.
We assume that you are executor of the will and estate of your mother and
that the grandchildren are not minors. The first thing to do is to check the
terms of the will to see how much discretion is given to the executor to
divide the estate among your mother’s beneficiaries without court order.
If the grandchildren cannot agree on division of their rights to the house, an
action for partition will probably be mandated. One co-owner of real
property can file to get a court order requiring the sale of the property and
division of the profits, or division of the land between the co-owners, which
is often a practical impossibility. Normally, a partition order provides for an
appraisal of the total property, which sets the price for one of the parties to
buy out the other's half.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
