Minimising sibling rivalry over inherited family home, via Will.

pensionpawn

Apologies if this has already been covered by another thread. Is there a way, besides selling the family home before death, to avoid complications with siblings inheriting the old family home. What I fear could happen in our family is that one of two siblings will not agree to sell the family home (as they want to live in it) and will also be unable to afford buying out the other sibling. Is there binding wording that could be included in a Will that would prevent a protracted deadlock resulting in the home remaining unoccupied? Does the law prevent one of the siblings occupying the house to try to help their cause? Could a sale be mandated in the Will if all beneficiaries are not in agreement? I believe that sibling A is open to being bought out however believes that sibling B will be unable to. Thanks in advance.

Savvy_Sue

Write a will, with help from a solicitor, which states the house is to be sold and proceeds divided.

Appoint solicitors as executors.

Any sibling is able to make an offer on the house. If they can't make a good enough offer, they can't buy it.

RAS

Generally, I do not support the idea of solicitors being executors.

But this is one of the few cases when it is appointing someone who is not part of the family and won't renounce because it is too much hassle is worth the cost.

And make sure the will does not leave the property to be shared between beneficiaries, and that it requires all assets ( apart if desired from a few specific items) to be sold and the proceeds divided between beneficiaries.

Keep_pedalling

We do see quite a few threads with this very problem. Unfortunately when it comes to a family home emotions often over rule logic. I agree with the above you need to get to see a solicitor and get wills drawn up which clearly layout the requirement that the house is sold and the proceeds split. This does not prevent one buying out the other for the full market value if they are able. I also agree on a careful choice of executors.

If this is quite a large family home, in your shoes I would seriously look at downsizing if there are just two of you knocking around in it before it starts to become a burden to look after. 

Marcon

pensionpawn said:

Apologies if this has already been covered by another thread. Is there a way, besides selling the family home before death, to avoid complications with siblings inheriting the old family home. What I fear could happen in our family is that one of two siblings will not agree to sell the family home (as they want to live in it) and will also be unable to afford buying out the other sibling. Is there binding wording that could be included in a Will that would prevent a protracted deadlock resulting in the home remaining unoccupied? Does the law prevent one of the siblings occupying the house to try to help their cause? Could a sale be mandated in the Will if all beneficiaries are not in agreement? I believe that sibling A is open to being bought out however believes that sibling B will be unable to. Thanks in advance.

Make the sibling who wants to sell the executor, with a solicitor as second executor.

Keep_pedalling

Marcon said:

pensionpawn said:

Apologies if this has already been covered by another thread. Is there a way, besides selling the family home before death, to avoid complications with siblings inheriting the old family home. What I fear could happen in our family is that one of two siblings will not agree to sell the family home (as they want to live in it) and will also be unable to afford buying out the other sibling. Is there binding wording that could be included in a Will that would prevent a protracted deadlock resulting in the home remaining unoccupied? Does the law prevent one of the siblings occupying the house to try to help their cause? Could a sale be mandated in the Will if all beneficiaries are not in agreement? I believe that sibling A is open to being bought out however believes that sibling B will be unable to. Thanks in advance.

Make the sibling who wants to sell the executor, with a solicitor as second executor.

Or make the solicitor a back-up executor. Hopefully they won’t actually be needed.

pensionpawn

Thanks for the comments. We will investigate how to phrase the Will to ensure that a sale can't be prevented, though only after one sibling has been given the opportunity to buy the other out. I also recognise the reasons for the executor not being one of the siblings, or a member of their family. However, am I correct in saying that in the case of a buy out between siblings all costs associated with traditional house sales will be incurred? If so, is there a way around that? Thanks.

Keep_pedalling

pensionpawn said:

Thanks for the comments. We will investigate how to phrase the Will to ensure that a sale can't be prevented, though only after one sibling has been given the opportunity to buy the other out. I also recognise the reasons for the executor not being one of the siblings, or a member of their family. However, am I correct in saying that in the case of a buy out between siblings all costs associated with traditional house sales will be incurred? If so, is there a way around that? Thanks.

There will be no estate agent costs, and if it is a cash buyout then costs will be minimal. Your next action should be to arrange an appointment with a solicitor to draw up your wills under no cerucmstances should you attempt to DIY this.

p00hsticks

Keep_pedalling said:

pensionpawn said:

Thanks for the comments. We will investigate how to phrase the Will to ensure that a sale can't be prevented, though only after one sibling has been given the opportunity to buy the other out. I also recognise the reasons for the executor not being one of the siblings, or a member of their family. However, am I correct in saying that in the case of a buy out between siblings all costs associated with traditional house sales will be incurred? If so, is there a way around that? Thanks.

There will be no estate agent costs, and if it is a cash buyout then costs will be minimal. Your next action should be to arrange an appointment with a solicitor to draw up your wills under no cerucmstances should you attempt to DIY this.

Assuming we're talking England here, I think ther may also be SDLT to pay on the purchase of half the property ?

TBagpuss

You defintely need to talk to a solicitor to ensure that the will achives what you want.

I would also sugges t that yo consider talking to the potential beneficiaries ahead of time, it can help to deal with "I'm sure S/He would have wanted the house to remain in the family" claims. You could also write a letter of woishes to hhold with you willin which you can speciafically set out that you anticipate that the hosue will need to be sold, in order to allow eveyont to get their share, and that hile you accept that one beneficiary may want to keep the house, you would not want any of them to block a sale or for any beneficiary to recieve less than thaeir share in order to enable another to buy the property. 

If you think there is likelyto be serious trouble then appointmeng a solicitor as executor is sensible - both as they are normally able to be more robust with anyone who gets greedy or awkward, and the fact that they charge may concentrates eveyone's minds on the costs of getting argumentative. I am not sure whether it would be possible / enforceable to include anything in the will to state that any additional costs caused by any beneficiary seekingto prevent or delay the sale of the house, including by moving into or refusing to leave, are to be deducted from the sahore of that beneficiary, but of course even if it were not enforcable it might be effective in preventing anyone from trying it! 

getmore4less

The will wording may help once it gets legal but then it is too late.

Sibling that wants to live there moves in.
Game over without agreement or significant costs

You need something in place that prevents that, pieces of paper are no good.

They must not have keys and the place needs to be secure so they cannot gain access.

Even with the right wording it is very easy to circumvent if the beneficiaries are the executors they can pretty much do what they want  sibling that want the place guilts the other(s) to letting them stay and it drags out for years.