QUESTION

Is there anyway an Executor of a Will and one of the six siblings can sell the property if the Father and Mother name is both on the Deed of the house

Asked on Jun 24th, 2021 on Real Estate - Georgia
More details to this question:
My Mother and Father names are on the Deed. My Mother deceased before my Father. My Father made a Will with me as the Executor and to share all property equally among the six siblings. I had the house sold until the lawyer said that since my Mother's name was on the Deed. I had to get all the siblings to sign a document to sell the house and they don't want to sell the house. Is there anyway I can sell the house without the sign documents from my siblings?
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1 ANSWER

Wills Attorney serving Alpharetta, GA
4 Awards
Please accept my condolences on the loss of your parents. As for your question, it's not really a probate question; it's a real estate title question. However, it is sort of related to probate.   You appear to state in your post that the real estate attorney told you that, because your mother owned an interest in the property, you need all of your siblings to sign off before the property can be sold. That makes me think that (1) your mother did not have a Will (even though your father did); (2) that your parents owned the property jointly, but as tenants in common and not as joint tenants with rights of survivorship; (3) that your father did not take any steps after your mother's death to make a claim for year's support or to otherwise have her interest in the property transferred to him (He may, like many people, have incorrectly assumed that because the property was jointly owned, he did not need to do anything); and (4) that your father therefore received 1/3 of your mother's interest while her children (all 6 of you) received the other 2/3 of her share. If my assumptions are true, then (A) your mother's 1/2 of the property passed to her heirs under GA intestacy law, and (B) your father received 1/3 of her 1/2 and the 6 kids received the other 2/3 of  her 1/2 . Since your father would already have owned his 1/2, that would mean his estate (with you as Executor) only owns 1/2 + 1/3 (or 4/6)  of the property at his death, and you and your 5 siblings collectively own the other 2/6 of the property directly. So, if my assumptions are correct, then you, as Executor of your father's estate, cannot sell the property by yourself, because his estate does not own 100% of the property. You can get a second opinion from a different real estate attorney, if you want. However, it's entirely possible that your father just made a mistaken assumption about how the property would pass at your mother's death and that as a result he did not become the sole owner of the property.
Answered on Jul 15th, 2021 at 5:34 AM

This answer is being provided as general information and not as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this answer.

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