Posted on: 15th Jun, 2009 02:14 pm
The land my parents owned has a main house and a 'mother in law' cottage. They left the main property to me and in an early living trust the cottage to my estranged brother(before he was estranged). My mother later ammended the trust to omit him entirely but he is now contesting it. My question though is this....If the city says that the mother in law house can not be sold seperately, how do you seperate that from the main property in order to leave it to someone? He is a drug user and convict and I have no money to fight this case...he has a lawyer. If I lose will I be forced to live with him despite the danger he puts my family in? My mother had a restraining order on him when she was alive.
Hi
A living trust is a revocable trust which means that it can be amended by the creator of the trust. Your parents set up the trust. So, your mother had every right to make changes to the trust. From this point of view, it doesn't look like your brother has a strong ground on which he can fight this case against you. Moreover, the restraining order that your mother had against him, should also be used as a proof of how he used to treat your mother and whether he deserves to inherit any part of her property.
If you want to separate the cottage from the main house, you can quitclaim the cottage to your brother. If the title to the cottage is in your brother's name and you hold the title to the main house, I don't think there will be any problem while selling the houses. This will also ensure that you do not have live with your brother. Once there are two different titles to the main house and the cottage, they will be considered as two different properties.
A living trust is a revocable trust which means that it can be amended by the creator of the trust. Your parents set up the trust. So, your mother had every right to make changes to the trust. From this point of view, it doesn't look like your brother has a strong ground on which he can fight this case against you. Moreover, the restraining order that your mother had against him, should also be used as a proof of how he used to treat your mother and whether he deserves to inherit any part of her property.
If you want to separate the cottage from the main house, you can quitclaim the cottage to your brother. If the title to the cottage is in your brother's name and you hold the title to the main house, I don't think there will be any problem while selling the houses. This will also ensure that you do not have live with your brother. Once there are two different titles to the main house and the cottage, they will be considered as two different properties.
your mother has right to amend the living trust. so your brother has no right on the property
how do I leave my house in trust for my son
Hi Guest,
You can record a deed transferring the property to a trust and the beneficiary of the trust would be your son. You can contact a real estate attorney and he would help you in drafting the deed in a proper way.
You can record a deed transferring the property to a trust and the beneficiary of the trust would be your son. You can contact a real estate attorney and he would help you in drafting the deed in a proper way.