Can I evict my alcoholic, drug addicted brother off heir property?

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Can I evict my alcoholic, drug addicted brother off heir property?

He is letting the house deteriorate. He is not paying the
bills or the Real Estate taxes. The only thing he does is live
there.

Asked on July 5, 2019 under Estate Planning, Virginia

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 4 years ago | Contributor

You call this "heir property." The issue is, who currently owns the property?
1) If owned by the estate of a deceased person (that is, it has not yet been distributed to the heirs; i.e. probate is not finished), the estate's executor (if there was a will) or personal representative/adminstrator appointed by the court (if there was no will) can eject ("ejectment" is eviction for people on property who are not rent-paying tenants) him; regardless of whether he will one day inherit it or not, if the estate still owns the property and h does not yet own it, the estate (through the executor or personal representative/administrator) has the right--the same as any other property owner--to determine who may be on the property. 
2) If the property has been distibuted to the heirs already, so he is on the title, he cannot be removed from it: no owner of real estate may evicted or ejected from it. Other heirs can bring a legal action called an action "for partition" to force the sale of the house, so they can get their share of its value and disentangle themselves from him.


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