How can i keeps my cousins from selling part of an undivided estate?
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How can i keeps my cousins from selling part of an undivided estate?
My father and my uncle inherited an estate from
my grandparents. They never had it divided. My
father passed away last year. Now my uncles
kids think they own the whole estate. My
question is i live in my fathers house which is
part of the estate.. what can i do to ensure
they dont sell the house?
Asked on June 27, 2018 under Estate Planning, Mississippi
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
They legally cannot sell it without your consent or without a court order mandating sale. If they do try to sell without your consent or a court order, you can go to court on an "emergent" (think "urgent" or "emergency") basis to get a type of court order called an "injunction" to stop the sale.
Note however that there is a legal procedure called an action "for partition" in which, if the owners of property cannot agree as to what to do with it, one or more of them can bring a lawsuit and request a court order mandating that the property be sold and the proceeds--after paying the cost of sale and paying off any mortgage or HELOC or liens are paid off--are divided among the owners. The law does NOT let you force co-owners to remain owners of property they don't want; they can force the sale (of course, you could always try to negotiate to buy them out). So if they are willing to go to court to do it they can take action to requires that the property be sold over your objections.
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