How can I remove my deceased sister’s husband from my late father’s home?
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How can I remove my deceased sister’s husband from my late father’s home?
My father passed away 5 years ago and since then my brother and I agreed to allow my sister and her husband to reside at my father’s home without yet beginning probate. My sister was incapacitated and wheelchair bound due to numerous strokes. Now that she has passed on, we would like to begin probate procedures to sell the home. However, her husband, my brother-in-law, refuses to move. The home is in desperate need of repairs and a thorough cleaning he also refuses to do this and he hasn’t paid taxes on the home. We are basically at a loss.
Asked on January 30, 2018 under Real Estate Law, Michigan
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Since your sister died, what you can do now depends on just how title to the property is held. If it is in all of you and your siblings names as "joint tennats with rights of survivorship", then upon her death you and your brother became the sole owners. At this point you can file an evicition to get your brother-in law out. If there is no right of survivorship language on the deed, then you held title as "tenants in common". This means that upon your sister's death it became an asset of her estate and her beneficiaries (if she left a Will) or her heirs (if she died without a Will) are you and your brothers co-owners. In such a situation, when co-owners cannot agree as to ownership matters, the law provides the remedy of "partition". In such a case, the court will order a division of the property if practical. However, such is not the case in the instance of a single family house. Accordingly, the court will order a "sale in lieu of partition". This means that the house will be put on the market for fair market value and once it is sold the proceeds will be equtably distrivbuted to all of the owners.
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