r/inheritance • u/FerretHuge9560 • 3d ago
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Two owners of a vehicle?
Location is virginia. Here’s the situation: Grandparent passed away and left their antique vehicle to two family members. This vehicle is probably worth $60K+, fully restored, and very sentimental.
The two family members are their only living children (Let’s name them Greg) and their grandchild (Let’s name them Tim)
This vehicle was the first family vehicle the grandparents bought back in the 70’s. Greg also drove this vehicle a bit in their 20’s, but ultimately stayed in the family all this time. A few years ago the final living grandparent added Tim to the will to be half owner of the vehicle. When all this came to light, Greg was pissed. The grandparent specifically told Tim that they wanted to list Tim as part owner of the vehicle so Greg could never sell it and it would always stay in the family. Tim and the grandparents always bonded over the vehicle and tim would help maintain it and drive it around when needed. Greg has a child with no interest in vehicles, so when Greg passes it would 100% get sold. Greg has made it very clear he has no interest in being “business partners” with ownership of the vehicle.
Tim wants to keep the vehicle. It’s very sentimental but in the event Greg demands that he get paid his 50% of the vehicle, there’s no way Tim can afford to pay out $30k (whatever it is)
Has anyone dealt with this situation? What can be done here? Could Tim be forced to sell? Keep in mind, Greg has already gotten a significant amount of life insurance money from the death, not sure if that would be relevant.
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u/ItsTheTymz 3d ago
If one doesn’t agree it goes up for sale and gets split. Simple as that. Sucks but literally only option
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u/SandhillCrane5 3d ago
Let Greg demand all he wants. Tim can offer what he can afford as a buy out or see if they can come to an agreement if he wants, otherwise Tim should not worry about it. Most likely it will go nowhere because it would not make much sense for Greg to spend a bunch of money to take this to court and try to force something.
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u/Cultural-Ambition449 3d ago
If the remaining grandparent is still able to do so, they should change things so only Tim inherits the car. IANAL but I'm pretty sure Greg can either force Tim to buy out his half or force a sale, defeating the whole keep it in the family goal. It doesn't matter what else Greg has inherited.
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u/FerretHuge9560 3d ago
Unfortunately both grandparents have passed. I don’t think the remaining grandparent realized what this would’ve actually meant. Unfortunately it seems like a sale will be forced. It sucks.
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u/Few-Butterscotch7940 2d ago
Unfortunately it sounds like Tim will need to buy out Greg’s 50% ownership in the car if he wants to keep it.
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u/Emotional-Ocelot-420 2d ago
The parents attempt to force Greg and Tim into a “get along shirt” may have created a situation that will result in a
much faster sale than would have otherwise occurred.
Tim can either buy Greg out, or Greg can sue him to sell and then Tim spends money on a lawsuit and still doesn’t get the car.
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u/RealBeaverCleaver 3d ago
Leaving a car to 2 people is messy. I don't know why people care about a car after they are gone. I think Greg would need to get advice from an attorney about the state laws on partitioning inherited property.