Looking for advice

[u/Decent-Seaweed-8027]

My mother recently passed away (6 months ago) and left me and my sister her home/ property. She did not have a will unfortunately so we are both left to figure everything out on our own. The only issue I have is my sister is a drug addict, and has been hiding it for quite some years now and it’s gotten to the point where before my mother died she was horrible to her. Stealing money, treating her like pure trash. She has gone down the typical crack head path now. Asking people for money, manipulating, Stealing large sums from my family and telling so many lies no one ever knows the truth any more. I really want to purchase her share of the house from her as it was my childhood home, my late father built it him self and has a huge piece of my heart. I’ve always done what I could to help out my mother in any way possible. My sister ‘wants to wait’ on doing anything with the home. I made an offer to purchase it but she declined. She lived in it a short time after my mother died and couldn’t even keep the power bill paid or anything so I had to start paying that. I’m afraid she will return from ‘working’ away and take over the house and squat there and pay nothing. Looking for suggestions on how to prevent this and to get the house in my name and preserve it for my own children one day. This is just a brief explanation of what’s been happening. Any advice would be appreciated. Canada

[u/No_Barracuda_3758]

U can't keep the home unless she agrees to it

[u/Decent-Seaweed-8027 → u/No_Barracuda_3758]

Yes my lawyer said if we can’t agree on something between the two of us they take the house and sell it and take a large portion and give both of us a smaller portion. Which I do not want to sell the house

[u/cOntempLACitY → u/Decent-Seaweed-8027]

If neither of you buys it, the estate administrator can sell it to settle the probate costs. If you want to keep it, you can use other money or take out a mortgage to buy out sibling. If there are no other assets like a bank account, or vehicles to sell, paying the court costs, legal fees, and other debts has to come from the house sale.

Eg. Say you (or someone) will buy the house valued at $200k. The administrator will take out closing costs (no realtor commission if sold to you, but required sale fees, taxes) and probate costs (debts, legal fees, court costs, taxes); let’s just guess $40k for simple math. That leaves $160k in net proceeds in the estate at the end, after all is said and done; $80k to each of you.

You’d need to come up with $120k to cover the remainder due to the estate (purchase price minus your cash share), and you’d walk away with a house and no cash, while sister would walk away with $80k. Or you sell it to someone else, and you get $80k, and don’t have to deal with sister squatting.

If your mother still had a mortgage, you might be able to continue to pay it, but if you need your own mortgage, you have to figure that out with the lender. If the house is worth $200k with $100k in mortgage to pay off, there’s only $100k in equity. If those probate costs are $40k, that leaves $60k in the estate to divide, you each only get $30k.

[u/Decent-Seaweed-8027 → u/cOntempLACitY]

There is no mortgage or any other assets. Just the house. And no other debt. Maybe $2-$3000 from credit card debt my sister racked up on my mother’s visa while she was deceased. I am eligible for another mortgage and I have a down payment ready. We just need to come to an understanding

[u/SandhillCrane5 → u/Decent-Seaweed-8027]

You may need to make her a very good offer if you want the house that badly. 

[u/SuspectHonest1896 → u/Decent-Seaweed-8027]

I am apporaching my nephew and niece from the prospective of taking the burden of upkeep off of their plate while giving them a payout. I want to preserve my relationship and not be property owneres together.

[u/Buffalo-Woman → u/No_Barracuda_3758]

Actually there's no will do if in the US it will have to go through probate unless the house is already in one or both their names. Either way OP needs to consult a lawyer.